Getting Back To Normal

So last night my mom went home. She'd been waiting for the go ahead since about the middle of last week. Things were pretty much done and she was hoping to get the phone call to move back in but as of today she still hadn't heard anything. She tried to get a hold of the fellow who is doing the work all day yesterday and finally got his wife on the phone who told her that he'd gone out of town with his brother. In any case she has friends in the building with keys (she'd given hers to the clean up people and the guy doing all the repairs) so she decided to go back.

She's been with us since the week before Christmas and although we all coped rather well with the circumstances I could tell she was beginning to lose her patience with the situation. That could have had something to do with the fact that my kids got sick, Miss A went nuts due to the cold medication I was giving her, and my mom caught the cold too. She has been hacking her guts out for two nights now and I know that she is exhausted. And um... napping around here just doesn't happen. I so wish it did, but it doesn't. Well, at least not for Miss A and consequently not for me. I offered her our bed to nap in but she refused. I inherited my stubbornness from her and have now passed it on to A and possibly B as well. Anyway, I don't think she could bear another night of trying to cough quietly (impossible) so as not to wake anyone up and another day of being so bloody tired and having a 3 year old try to boss you around. Not to mention that I'm back to work tomorrow night and that's always when our week becomes a little bonkers.

Despite her trying to insist that I not come over and help her get settled in again, I did. As I was driving over in my own car I suddenly was overcome with emotion that she was suddenly not going to be around so much and I started to cry. It all just happened so suddenly. I thought we'd find out a few days in advance that she could go back and we'd all have time to mentally prepare. Not this, "Okay, Bye! I'm leaving!" business. If my sadness over her moving back home is any indication of how badly I am going to take it when she is not around any longer, it's going to be pretty disastrous.

I did however, wipe away my tears, put fresh sheets on her bed and help her do a few things to feel at home again. I have to say her place looks fantastic. The fellow she has working on it (we call him Bob the Builder around these parts due to the fact that his name is Bob) has done a beautiful job and has updated some things which really make it look great. And I got him to install a detachable shower head while he was at it because I found out the poor woman has been bathing using a cup!! (Two knee replacements make it impossible to get down into the tub. Wish I could afford to buy her one of those fancy tub elevator thingies)

It will be nice to get back into the normal swing of things around here. My children are likely to be suffering withdrawal for the next several days. One extra person around to love you is pretty easy to take. Especially when that person is your Grandma.

I talked to Miss A about it at bedtime and she threw a curve ball my way. (big surprise) She was concerned that Grandma didn't have a 'Daddy' to go home to. That she'd be there all alone. She doesn't see my father often but I reminded her who he was and that he and Grandma were once married like Daddy and I but that they didn't live together anymore. Just when my brain was starting to swell from the stress and I started to explain that Grandma and I moved here when I was a little girl she asked me to "Please read her story." Yes. Okay. Let's read a story about something other than the fact that your Grandma doesn't have a 'Daddy' and is all alone, not to mention the implications of what that means in the grand scheme of life etc. Whew! Dodged that one for now.