Life Changes

I guess I’m going have to give up drinking tea with supper. I now realize it keeps me awake at night almost as bad as coffee does. The only positive thing about being wide awake at 12:15 am is that it affords me the opportunity to write, something I’ve done precious little of since “The Big Move.” Truth is, I’ve been too busy living my life to write about it.

My time is pretty much split between helping Mama and Daddy, working on our house, and going back to Athens with Doug once a week. It is amazing how quickly each week passes. Slowly but surely, we are making this house look like our home. I think I’m going to love it here. Today was a perfectly beautiful day, not too hot, clear blue sky, and a breeze blowing all day. We worked outside this morning on our fire pit. (Actually, Doug worked on the fire pit while I sprayed wasp nests.)

Most of the day was consumed with the delivery of our new stainless steel appliances from Sears. I had to take all the food out of the fridge and put it in coolers before they got here. The delivery man installed the dishwasher and range hood and moved the old appliances downstairs to the basement kitchen. He was here for four hours! It so happened that the delivery date was on Doug’s day off, and I sure was glad it turned out that way. Doug helped Tim get everything in and hooked up. After Tim left, the kitchen was a wreck. It took me hours to get everything cleaned up and the food put back in the new refrigerator. After I finished that, I cooked supper for us and Mama and Daddy, who came down to eat and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. They were spectacular! We also enjoyed watching at least seven hummingbirds eating from the feeders on the front porch.

Yesterday was our monthly trip to Wal-Mart. Mama wasn’t up to going so Daddy and I went together. We first had to take a specimen by the doctor’s office for Mama. Then we went to the bank where Daddy had a hard time using the ATM machine. I then asked him if he had remembered to bring the coolers for all the cold stuff. He had forgotten, so we had to turn around and go all the way home to get them. We finally made it to Murphy where we went by the drapery outlet so I could return some placemats I had bought there. By then it was time to eat, and Daddy took me out to a new Chinese restaurant that had a huge buffet. Finally we got to Wal-Mart, and Daddy and I divided up his list and went our separate ways. It took me forever to find everything; no two Wal-Marts are alike! When I finished, I began looking for Daddy and could not find him anywhere. I must have walked the huge store three or four times, but he was nowhere to be seen, and of course, he didn’t have his cell phone. With his memory like it is, I seriously began to fear he had forgotten I was with him and had gone home without me! I was just about to go out to the parking lot to look for the car when I saw him next in line at a cash register. Since I had half his stuff, I’m not sure what he was thinking. Fortunately, the lady behind him moved over to another aisle, so we got together, checked out, and took everything out to the car to stuff in the coolers. When we arrived home, we took all his things to the house first and loaded most of it in the freezers and took the rest upstairs. Mama wanted to know where the rotisserie chicken was. “Not on the list” we told her. Then she asked me why I got coffee. “It was on the list,” I said. Mama seemed confused, but then she saw the list Daddy had left lying on the back of the couch. He had taken an old list that, of course, had never been thrown away! She insisted she had handed Daddy the correct list that morning. And that’s pretty much the way things go with them.

Tuesday was spent with Mama at the Murphy Medical Center, where she received two pints of blood for severe anemia. It took seven hours. I stayed with her all morning and then left to do some shopping in the afternoon. We had all hoped it would make a remarkable difference in her energy level. She has seemed to feel better, but still doesn’t really feel like doing anything. Her hemoglobin is up, but still low. I’ll get her iron supplements tomorrow and hope that helps.

Wednesday I stayed home and worked on our house, mostly cleaning and washing clothes. We did get started clearing out the basement at last.

So that is life here in the mountains. It is so beautiful and peaceful here, much slower than life back home. I truly value this time with Mama and Daddy. They are aging so fast now. Each day with them is precious.