My mother who is almost 86 moved in with us last month.
It’s been a big adjustment. It’s not just the unpacking but all the chores associated with moving to a new city – finding a banker, a doctor, a lawyer, (an Indian chief?). And just getting used to living with each other is a major shift that can’t be overlooked.
My mother has been living with heart disease for more than half her life. Just shy of 40 she learned that she had high blood pressure. When she was about 44 she had a serious heart event. At first they thought it was a heart attack, then they thought it was a heart virus. I don’t think they ever really understood what happened. She was hospitalized for two months (bedridden) and when she came home her legs had atrophied and she had to learn to walk all over again. Nowadays they’d have you marching in the halls on day two!
When she was in her early 60s she got a pacemaker. And at 71 she had a triple bypass. Yet here she is today, still going. I joke that she’s like a Timex watch.
Ever since my dad died in 1992, my mother has come west for vacations once or twice a year, often for three weeks or a month. To make packing easier, she left a blue velvet housecoat at my house.
So now that she’s here, lock, stock, and barrel – what to do with the famous blue housecoat?
Well, here’s the answer. We are fortunate to have a country hideaway – our lodge – in the rolling hills of northeastern Alberta. It’s a rustic country cabin (the inspiration for our website rustic-lodge-lifestyle.com) and she loves going there as much as we do. As I write this, it’s a lovely late August afternoon at the lodge. Mum is reading, the sun is shining, the dog (Jed, the boxador) is sleeping, the breeze is rustling the leaves on the trees, and I’m connecting with the world from my sanctuary.
Mum in the famous blue housecoat
So, the famous blue housecoat has a new home, here at the lodge where it will come in handy on crisp autumn mornings when the cabin is chilly and before the morning fire in the wood stove warms the air.
We never thought Mum would live so long. She is a testament to the fact that you CAN live with heart disease.
1 response so far ↓
Marguerite Fingland // February 28, 2009 at 8:00 pm |
Have been trying to find out how Dorothy is, but
cannot find anything on your blog. Wonder if you could drop a note on it. We are all hoping she has improved. Give her our best, we are thinking of her often.