God Knows — also, guess what size fit me!!!

We got up pretty early. Didn’t sleep nearly as well last night as I did the night before. We went down to the gift shop so I could get my coffee. My daughter had hot chocolate and we listened to the local gossip and participated in various conversations before catching the village shuttle to the grocery store.

At the grocery store we got Mary’s list of grocery’s and Mom’s along with a few extra treats that we wanted – some popcorn and fresh cherries, huge fresh dill pickles, and a magazine. When we got home we put it all away then fixed a delicious lunch. I used to work in a delicatessen when I was in my teens so I can make a great sandwich. My mom loves the ones I whip up for her. I fixed corned beef with deli mustard and sliced kosher pickles. It was great!

After lunch, my daughter’s friend came to pick her up. My daughter is part of an infertility support group online. They all had a retreat last September and, at that time, she met one of the girls who lives in Florida – not too far from my mom. When our trip was coming up they decided to get together. She invited my daughter to come spend a couple of nights at her house so my daughter was whisked away on Friday to return early Sunday morning.

After my daughter left my mom and I sat talking at the table. Mom looked drained and complained about her lack of energy. She was concerned that she wouldn’t even be able to make it to her hairdresser appointment. Now, the hairdresser she goes to is just on the ground floor of the building in which she lives (as is the gift shop, dining room, mail room, and other areas she often needs to visit). She has a scooter to get around and only uses her walker in the apartment. The problem is with her age, peripheral neuropathy and Parkinson’s Disease, everything she does takes a great deal of time and energy. Just putting on a shoe one morning took her nearly 40 minutes. She lay her head down on the table and tried to gain some needed energy. After a bit of time she pulled herself together. For the hairdresser’s appointment she wanted to take her walker saying that the scooter was too large to maneuver into their area. I walked with her and road the elevator down. She went on to the hairdresser’s then I hopped a village cart and went to the village thrift shop.

The residents in the gift shop had told me that morning that there was going to be a big sale in the thrift shop from 11-3. Of course I had to get in on that! 😉 My mom had been complaining that she needed some new clothes. I found a few nice blouses and a sweater for her. I also found a couple of shirts and a skirt for me. The skirt seemed a bit small but had a little elastic at the waist as well as buttons. I couldn’t find a size on it but since it was only $1.00 I bought it on the off chance it would fit. After spending my $7 or $8 I headed back to mom’s place. She was still getting beautiful so I went upstairs and looked over my new acquisitions. I tried the skirt on over my jeans thinking it might not fit but I sucked in my tummy and got it buttoned. It didn’t look bad – it was a long denim skirt with a ruffle at the bottom. I wouldn’t be able to overeat and wear it comfortably, that was for sure, but it would be fine otherwise. Taking it off I scanned it again for a size and was stunned to see it was a size 8!!!! I… ME… fat old ME fit into a size 8!!!! Granted, it was a tight fit and there was elastic involved… but I still fit and it WAS a size 8!!  That made me pretty happy.

After that uplifting experience, I sat down for awhile and had prayer. There had been some chaos going on where my brother had first planned for us (me, my daughter and him) to go to Key West for two days during this trip… my mom was prepared for that but then he said he wouldn’t be able to do it because something came up with his business so we told mom we would just be with her the whole time… then he got things under control and said he would be going so things kept going back and forth about this Key West sub-trip and it was making my mother a little nuts. I wasn’t sure what would be best so just turned it all over to God and said that HE should make the decision on what should happen and that I would roll with whatever God wanted because HE always knows what’s best anyway. I just wanted to do HIS will and most important to me was that everybody be happy because that’s what makes ME the happiest. As it turned out my brother said he was definitely coming and he definitely wanted to do Key West. He wanted me to meet him at the airport the next day at 3:07pm so that when he rented the car he could put me on as a secondary driver. We would leave to Key West early Sunday morning. My daughter and I would stay through Tuesday, he said, but he would have to leave Monday afternoon because he would have to be back home by Tuesday morning for meetings with clients. I would have to return the car on Wednesday morning before I took off back to Chicago.

My mother was unhappy because she had scheduled a doctor’s appointment for Monday morning and wanted me to come with her. I called and re-scheduled the appointment for Tuesday afternoon promising her I would get us home from the Keys soon enough to take her there in the rental car and ask the doctor all my questions, etc. She felt much better then. So things seemed set and everybody seemed as if they were going to be okay with all the plans.

Mom liked the things I bought for her. I washed everything then fixed mom a little fruit and cheese plate to hold her over until dinner. We dined with Mary down in the dining room. It was pleasant. I just love those two. Mom taught me how to make the martinis and I did a good job of it 😉 Very tasty, if I do say so myself.

After dinner we changed into pajamas and watched mom’s shows. I went comatose during Jeopardy but woke up later. I think she slept then too. We ended up watching a very odd movie with Vanessa Redgrave called, “A Rumor of Angels.” It was really quite good. It was about a young boy who loses his mother and becomes friends with an eccentric neighbor lady (Ms. Redgrave). We both enjoyed it quite a bit. Tired and content, we went to bed after the movie.