Moms Are Forever

Funny how things change with moms.  There from the beginning, carefully planning things out, waiting nine full months to meet. Greeting with gusto, nurturing and coaxing. Non-judgemental but opinionated. Urging one on, cheerleading from the sidelines.

Countless birthdays, graduations, weddings, divorces, headaches and phone calls. In good health and in bad, there from the beginning. 

And it's done. Six weeks short of your 91st birthday, after seven months of defying the odds, you bid adieu. Glioblastoma won. 

The journey continues as there is more to do. More flowers to plant. More rooms to paint. More kids to call and grandbabies to hug. We're on a journey, and good parentage has helped. The bumps, though sometimes high, were tolerable and the advice, spot on.  It's been a good run. Even without your bright blue eyes, Moms are forever.

Milly Greets Minnesota

After five months in Chicagoland, 86 year old Milly returned to Minnesota last week to welcome spring and visit friends. The trip was carefully arranged so American Airlines would treat Milly royally, escorting her through O'Hare and delivering her to the Minneapolis-St. Paul arrival gate unscathed. If only her Minnesota grandson had picked her up on time, not two hours late, the trip would have been perfect.

How time can slip away when one's only obligation for the day is to pick up Granny is beyond me. Falling asleep on the couch for a short nap was the excuse, yet why would one allow one's self to do so, knowing full well travelling is difficult for some senior citizens? After calling the kid's cell phone for two hours he finally came to, or woke up, apologizing for his failure to deliver, or in this case pick up. Duh. Incredulous. Unacceptable. Awful. Ridiculous. Enough. Next time a paid driver will be waiting for Milly in Minneapolis -- one who has a watch and an alarm clock.

Photo attribution: somewhatfortyplus

Here Comes Milly

Milly arrives in Chicagoland on Friday afternoon for a three or four month visit, depending how it goes and how she feels. Milly is remarkable. The mother of three daughters, she was a stay-at-home mom for several years, then answered the call and returned to work in the medical field before throwing in the towel and finally retiring. The grandmother of eight, Milly volunteers at two hospitals near her home, and serves as an election judge as well.

Always a real go-getter, in an earlier life Milly made dill pickles and canned green beans, tomatoes and beets, in separate jars, not all thrown together. In those days. canning was something many did as a way of preserving the harvest through the winter, and keeping the costs down as well. Though canning involved a pressure cooker, glass jars, wax and loads of patience, Milly ended up with high quality food that always "sealed." To those eating the canned goods, a "good seal" meant they would live one more day without botulism.

Food preparation wasn't all she did. Milly also knew her way around a sewing machine and made draperies and slip covered furniture when it started to look a little worn or she decided a new color was in order. No project was too big for Milly, and just last year she decided to re-upholster her family room sofa. Through the years Milly has traveled a bit, owning a second home on the Florida east coast, a few summer homes in the northern states, and the main home in a large city in the Midwest. Soon Milly will be visiting with her family in Chicagoland.

Friday afternoon Milly will arrive at my home for an extended holiday visit. The guest room has been redecorated in shades of blue and green, the armoire cleared, and new wooden hangers are empty in the closet, awaiting her clothes. Though she repeatedly said "don't get anything different for me," new Pottery Barn towels hang in the bathroom, and fresh vegetables and fruits have been washed and placed in the refrigerator. Milly arrives in Chicagoland on Friday afternoon and her daughter can't wait for her to get here.