Sunday with Muh-MA

peprmt

6t wat

zp lok

So reads my mother's grocery list, these days. That's peppermints, 60 watt light bulbs, and zip lock bags.

I've mentioned before, that my mother takes Razadyne, a drug for those in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. And that she still functions okay, save numbers, and some spelling. She's sometimes frustrated and anxious over the state of her spelling, and lack of numerical savvy, but we figure, "just roll with it." She hands me her list, I read over it without blinking an eye, and off we go to complete her mission.

Today we decided to take a bit of a hike around Homer Lake, a small park about15 miles from here.

For all of my roaming the countryside in these parts, I can't tell you jack about "1700N" or any other N/S/E/W county road numbers. I have a general idea of where I need to be, and I just start driving. I know one, and only one route to Homer Lake.

And I didn't take that particular route today, but I was unconcerned. I still know in which direction I needed to drive, whereupon I would either stumble across the place, or stop and ask for directions.

I mentioned this to Mom, while we were in the next town over. "Easy," she said. "You have to go by the playground. Take a right here." And then a another right, a left, and a right...

Ummm.

We were heading back the direction in which we'd come from. Mom was steadfast, though, and readying to be insulted if I questioned her. "I brought the kids here a million times," she said.

Yes Maam.

Yup, by the playground, down the road, to the sign that said "Homer Lake Road."

"YAY MOM! You got me Un-lost!"

She all but said "duh."

In this day when my sister and I are seeing to it that her life is under control, that she's driven where she needs to go, that she's stocked with groceries and meds, it was fun to have her save the day again, to direct me and set me straight. It was uplifting for both of us, actually.

We got to the lake, took a few pictures, and I convinced her to take a mini hike down one of the trails, although the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Let's hike down this trail, just a bit."

Mom: ———

Me, knowingly: "You're scared of snakes, aren't you?"

Mom: "If one gets one me, will you get it off of me?"

Me: "Hell no."

Mom: ———

Me: Ok, fine, Mom. If a snake gets on you, I will get it off of you.

Deal.






And no snakes.