Thursday, August 3, 2006
"Mmmm...hamwhatam!"
Mom awoke yesterday only a few minutes after I peaked in on her at 1430. I questioned her about the dream I noticed she'd been having just before she awoke but, whatever its contents, her memory of it was gone. She insisted that she hadn't been dreaming.
I explained her obvious, organizational choices for the day: Despite the lateness of her arising, if she wanted to have her restaurant birthday meal, we'd gear our day toward doing that, as what would work into our day as a late luncheon. Or, if she didn't feel up to going out preparations, there was always the ham and, being her birthday, she could have as much of it as she wanted, in whatever way she wanted. This was when she voiced her choice in the above quote. It's been years since I've heard her say this (and, for me, she's the originator of it, although she may have gotten it from her own born into family).
My immediate oblique response was, "Or, is that, 'A ham is what I am'?" and reminded her of the Famous Family Story of the time she demonstrated for one of her sister's dates that she could place an entire unpeeled orange in her mouth.
"Oh, my," she said, "I'd forgotten about that!"
Even though she awoke later than usual, she had a lively day. She insisted on having her ham choices prepared in front of her. We watched the mysterious, intriguing Miyazaki animated film Nausicaa, which we both enjoyed. She didn't nap. She spent a long time picking out and working on writing a thank you card to MFS (who's phone number we don't have) for the flowers. The card isn't completely finished. Most of that time was spent looking out the window and at the bouquet while determining what to say. My guess is that she was thinking, in depth, about MFS and her family. At one point I mentioned that I discovered, some time ago, that if I spend too much time trying to figure out something to say in a thank you note, I noticed the thank you note never got sent.
"Well," she said, "that's not my problem."
So, I left her to her Reverie of Gratitude. I'm assuming that the note will be completed sometime...she remembered it today (I left it on the TV table to the side of her rocker) but insisted that she needed more time to "think about it".
Today is Restaurant Birthday Dinner Day. I left the choice of restaurant up to her. It was an interesting challenge to determine the name of her choice. She had the place clearly in mind...was able to describe it perfectly from some of her memories and some prompt-filled leading questions. Finally, I figured out it was Applebee's, so that's where we're going. The things she remembered on her own without prompting are interesting: That it was "heading out of town" (which indicated to me she knows, for the time being, what town we live in); it was "up on a hill"; she could sit in a booth there (it is one of the few restaurants with booths where she doesn't end up with her chin on the table when she sits in a booth); lots of windows; lots of people (it is a great people watching restaurant). These bits, however, didn't narrow it down for me until she mentioned that we'd been there "only once". There's only one restaurant "heading out of town" to which we've been only once. That "once" was almost two years ago, during the month we were selling the house in Mesa. I recall, now, that she was so pleased with our experience there that she mentioned we'd have to go there regularly. Maybe that's a possibility, now, even though we have yet to go back for that Denny's dinner to which she was looking forward.
Yes, I've finished the book and started the review but I only got a couple of sentences written before Mom awoke. I'm hoping to work on it this evening when Mom retires.
Time to awaken her and get her ready for An Evening Out.
Later.
I explained her obvious, organizational choices for the day: Despite the lateness of her arising, if she wanted to have her restaurant birthday meal, we'd gear our day toward doing that, as what would work into our day as a late luncheon. Or, if she didn't feel up to going out preparations, there was always the ham and, being her birthday, she could have as much of it as she wanted, in whatever way she wanted. This was when she voiced her choice in the above quote. It's been years since I've heard her say this (and, for me, she's the originator of it, although she may have gotten it from her own born into family).
My immediate oblique response was, "Or, is that, 'A ham is what I am'?" and reminded her of the Famous Family Story of the time she demonstrated for one of her sister's dates that she could place an entire unpeeled orange in her mouth.
"Oh, my," she said, "I'd forgotten about that!"
Even though she awoke later than usual, she had a lively day. She insisted on having her ham choices prepared in front of her. We watched the mysterious, intriguing Miyazaki animated film Nausicaa, which we both enjoyed. She didn't nap. She spent a long time picking out and working on writing a thank you card to MFS (who's phone number we don't have) for the flowers. The card isn't completely finished. Most of that time was spent looking out the window and at the bouquet while determining what to say. My guess is that she was thinking, in depth, about MFS and her family. At one point I mentioned that I discovered, some time ago, that if I spend too much time trying to figure out something to say in a thank you note, I noticed the thank you note never got sent.
"Well," she said, "that's not my problem."
So, I left her to her Reverie of Gratitude. I'm assuming that the note will be completed sometime...she remembered it today (I left it on the TV table to the side of her rocker) but insisted that she needed more time to "think about it".
Today is Restaurant Birthday Dinner Day. I left the choice of restaurant up to her. It was an interesting challenge to determine the name of her choice. She had the place clearly in mind...was able to describe it perfectly from some of her memories and some prompt-filled leading questions. Finally, I figured out it was Applebee's, so that's where we're going. The things she remembered on her own without prompting are interesting: That it was "heading out of town" (which indicated to me she knows, for the time being, what town we live in); it was "up on a hill"; she could sit in a booth there (it is one of the few restaurants with booths where she doesn't end up with her chin on the table when she sits in a booth); lots of windows; lots of people (it is a great people watching restaurant). These bits, however, didn't narrow it down for me until she mentioned that we'd been there "only once". There's only one restaurant "heading out of town" to which we've been only once. That "once" was almost two years ago, during the month we were selling the house in Mesa. I recall, now, that she was so pleased with our experience there that she mentioned we'd have to go there regularly. Maybe that's a possibility, now, even though we have yet to go back for that Denny's dinner to which she was looking forward.
Yes, I've finished the book and started the review but I only got a couple of sentences written before Mom awoke. I'm hoping to work on it this evening when Mom retires.
Time to awaken her and get her ready for An Evening Out.
Later.
