Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Forever Young, Part 1

5/30/2017

6 Comments

 
     Over this past Memorial Day weekend Tom and I drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Seaford, Delaware, to visit my mother, who will turn  97 years old in June.
       Though I talk to my mom on a regular basis, it had been almost a year since I'd last seen her and I was wondering how she would look, how she would be, now,

...compared to two years ago,
Picture
Picture
...or one year ago.
     Here's how my mother  looked when she greeted us upon our arrival last Friday night,
Picture
...with  a bowl of fruit salad that she'd made for us, an assortment of cookies  and sweets, and a refrigerator full of snacks and drinks.
    Also there to greet us were my mom's three cats,  strays she's adopted,

...Blacky,
Picture
Picture
...Hidey, so named  because he likes to hide,
...and Sylvester, a pretty black and white ball of fur who refused to sit still  for a picture.
    As usual, I was amazed at how well my mom was doing, how good she looked, and how cheerful she was.
     Though in truth she's always been a pretty cheerful lady.
Picture
     I'd heard from siblings who live closer to my mom than I do that she was refusing to use her walker. 
      But then I saw for myself that she in fact was using her walker,

Picture
...to store things in and hang things on.
      "I'm not going to use that old thing,"  said my mom of her walker, "it makes me feel like an old lady and I don't want to feel like an old lady!"
      Can't argue with that.
      Especially when we woke up the following morning to find that my mom,

...looking lovely,
Picture
Picture
...had fixed us a beautiful breakfast of cheese omelettes, bagels, fruit salad, and sticky buns.
    After breakfast my mom pulled out a box of chocolates.
    Now, candy immediately after breakfast is more than even I, the Sugar Queen, can handle. Tom likewise declined.
    My mom, however, dug in.

      "I really shouldn't eat so much chocolate,"  she said.
         "No, Mom," said I, "you should keep eating exactly what you're eating and doing exactly what you're doing."
    
     

Picture
     It occurred to me that maybe we all should start eating chocolate after breakfast.
     In truth, besides the benefits of chocolate, my mother has the benefit of two wonderful ladies who are her tag-team of in-home helpers:

Picture
...her dear friend Fran,   
...and Laura, who make it possible for her to continue to  live an active life.
Picture
     Every morning either Fran or Laura swings by my mom's house and takes her to Mass.  Afterwards they go for breakfast at McDonald's with my mom's church group, except on Sundays when they go after church to breakfast at a  local restaurant called Pizza King,
Picture
...where one can get a great breakfast, and lots of other dishes besides pizza.  Go figure.
     After breakfast  Fran or Laura generally drive my mom to doctor's appointments, shopping trips,  or to run whatever errands need to be run. Then they head home where the ladies take care of whatever house work needs to be done, usually finding time to fit in a game or two of Scrabble with my mom.  My mom's helpers generally leave by mid-afternoon and she's good for the rest of the day and evening, though friends, neighbors, and my brother and his wife often stop by to visit.
     After breakfast and chocolates my mom showed me some pictures from  the Christmas party she hosted last December.

Picture
...of the yummy-looking food,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...and my brother Michael with five  of his ten kids.
Picture
     Then I spent some wandering around my mother's house, looking at things,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     Among some of my mother's mementos I came across these photos of my father,
Picture
...and this local news article from a couple of years ago.
Picture
   I asked her about this table set up in her dining room,
Picture
Picture
...and my mother explained that this is for the weekly meetings of her Legion of Mary group  who, since they lost their former meeting site, now  hold their  meetings at her house.
     Later that afternoon my mother saw her next-door neighbor, one of her many good neighbors who watch out for her, out in his back yard,
...so she walked over to his yard and invited him and his cute poochie to come over for a visit since Tom and I were there.
Picture
Picture
     At dinner time we we went to eat at my mom's favorite restaurant, the Stargate Diner,
...a homey place,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...family owned,
...with the nicest ambiance,
Picture
...and the biggest portions of the best food.
     My mom ordered the salmon stuffed with crab meat,
Picture
Picture
...while Tom had the sea trout,
...and I had the eggplant parmesan.
Picture
     Our meals were ginormous, and came with soup or the salad bar as well.
     During dinner the daughter of the owner walked around the restaurant talking to the guests. 
     "Romaine, why did they seat you here?"  she asked my mother, who is one of the regulars, "I was looking for you in the other room."
     After our delicious and pleasant dinner at the Stargate, we came home,

...and Tom and I went for a walk around my mother's neighbor-
hood.

Picture
Picture
Picture
     When we got back my mom had the desserts ready and waiting.
Picture
     To be continued...
6 Comments
Dayna
5/31/2017 02:57:46 am

I love reading your blog! It looks like a wonderful visit. My mom and dad are moving next to us in Mt Sterling next week.

Reply
Patti
5/31/2017 06:51:57 am

Thanks, Dayna. How wonderful for you and your parents that you will soon have them close by!

Reply
Kevin Martin
5/31/2017 07:19:51 am

What a wonderful lady your Mom is. You are lucky to have her in your life. It appears she has lots of good people in her life.

Reply
Patti
5/31/2017 10:40:32 am

Thanks, Kevin. And yes, my mom does have lots of great people in her life - but then she reaches out to them, too, and she's also been the wonderful person in others' lives.

Reply
Linda Clark
6/1/2017 03:22:19 am

I last saw your mom about 30 years ago. Her hair is a bit lighter, but otherwise she looks the same! Please wish her a happy birthday from Romaine's friend Linda.

Reply
Patti
6/1/2017 06:02:43 am

Oh, thank you, Linda, I sure will! I'm sure she remembers you, too! You and Romaine were friends from St. Christophers, right?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    or from
    The Book Loft
    of German Village,
    Columbus, Ohio
    Picture
    Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































Proudly powered by Weebly