"You won't let me be good to you!" I am screaming that at my Moma at 9:00 pm. She is riding her princess pillow high tonight. The nicer you are to her, the more demanding she is. The more you do for her, the needier she gets. Ugh......
She got a bath tonight. I admit. I have been very neglectful toward her bathing needs this summer. I HATE HATE HATE bath time. I could not do that for a living no matter what the pay was. I am not an "old people" person. This one happens to belong to me, so I have no real choice here. I watched her bathe, and remembered how as a little girl, she fostered my love for a long hot bath with water and bubbles up to my neck. She lathered and washed, and scrubbed, and rinsed over and over and over! When I washed her back with the scrubby thing, she ooooooo'd and ahhhhhhhh'd about how good it felt. I was feeling pretty good toward her, knowing how good it feels to be clean, really clean. I helped her out, helped her dry off. We powdered her, and put medicine on her psoriasis, got on a clean gown and housecoat. I helped her to her room, where I had put clean sheets on her bed and fresh pillow cases. My heart was full.
I left her room to go clean up the bathroom. She called to me and asked where her face cream was. I explained that we had put the medicine on her face where the psoriasis was so she shouldn't use the face cream right now. She was okay with that. By the time I got the bathroom straightened up, I was exhausted. I went into my room and sat on the bed. I heard...."Julie......Julie!!......JUUUUUUULIIIEEE" I got up and went to her room. "Hey, get me some clean socks". They are not hidden, they are in her drawer, but she needed me to get them.
Since then, she has had a peanut butter cookie, chocolate milk, coconut candy, and ice cream. And before the bath she had eaten a huge plate of spaghetti and garlic bread. She gets needier by the minute. I need to be reminded of this the next time my heart is so full of good feelings. This....this is the REAL Mildred Hall. She was toted on a satin pillow all her life, and this is how she has always been, all my life.
Oh, and sidebar....Tonight on her way to the bathroom for her bath, she paused at the bar, looked to see if anyone was watching her (Kerry was from the den). She grabbed a bag and dumped some of the contents in her hand and slid it into her housecoat pocket. Kerry came and told me. I asked her in front of him, "Did you get some of this and put it in your pocket?" She looked like a child caught stealing...."Did you?" I asked again. Finally, she nodded her head yes. "Moma! This is dog food!" I showed her the bag. She reached into her pocket and handed it back to me, and said matter of factly, "I don't want any". Precious.
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