Mom Diaries 2014: Every 15 Minutes

Has anyone heard of Bubble Tea? Sophie introduced this to me yesterday.
                                                       
                                                               

         
It's a little like the self serve frozen yogurt experience, except the "toppings" actually go on the bottom. Instead of candy and fruit, the choices are little jelly cubes of tapioca.. also called "pearls" Then the tea is poured over and the cup goes through a little machine and a foil top is sealed. Using a large straw, you punch through the lid and as you drink you get a few of the little pearls of various flavors.


                                                                                

This Southern Belle is becoming quite the California girl.

Thank you Alameda, for all your cute coffee spots and shops and beautiful  homes.

Next stop: San Mateo. Let the Mom diaries begin..

I was feeling a little travel worn so my mom and I decide to crawl into her bed and watch a movie.

We go through the choices and decide on Jerry Maguire.
I totally had forget that the movie starts with that rather steamy sex scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston.

We take turns saying:

Oh..
Oh my...
Ooh..

Our mother/daughter time has started off with a bang.

(So to speak....:)

Today, we decide to actually get out of the bed and GO to a movie. There's a heatwave here and I am
looking forward to the air conditioning..I don't care WHAT we see.

My mom logs on-line and checks the movie times. (I love that about her, still engaged in life and not afraid to try new things like Facebook, Blogging and learning more about the internet. That's pretty impressive for a 84 year old.)

She finds an early show and tells me we need to leave by 10 am. And here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: Oh, great! I'll just hop in the shower around 9.
Mom: Oh, we don't take showers here..only baths.
Me: Oh, (we take turns saying "oh" a lot ) Well, how will I wash my hair?
Mom: You can get on all fours.
Me: Oh...
Mom: Or, you could lay down and I could pour water over your head.
Me: Um...
Me: Oh, that's ok..I'll figure something out...

She comes into the bathroom a couple times asking if I need any help.
(I'm wondering how I functioned for the last 30 years with out my mother's help:)
I told her everything was fine and I was doing great.....I did manage to wash my hair in the bathtub.
That one day at the gym finally paid off..
           

Look at my choices at the theater..
 Now, how do these Californians expect me to choice between drinking Starbucks coffee or eating ice cream...Better just do both?

This is my mother's "grandmother" clock.

It chimes every 15 minutes.

Every 15 minutes...at a decibel only an 84 year old could appreciate.

Did I mention it chimes very 15 minutes????

I am increasingly becoming aware of the time passing here...in 15 minutes intervals....

Anyway, I know that time passes quickly and soon I will fill this visit flying by..

I want to savor every minute.

Thanks to this clock, I have a reminder of that.

Every 15 minutes:)

"My favorite things in life do not cost money. It's really clear that the most precious resources we all have is time."~ Steve Jobs.

Travel For Dummies

"I'm leav'n on a jet plane..don't know when I'll be back again..."

Well, actually I do, because I bought a round trip ticket...

After a three hour drive, I'm sitting at my gate. If I enjoyed flying all this might be pretty exciting. It's just the take off, the landing and all that in between.

So, I just asked The Lord for two things.

1) "Lord, would you please bump me up to first class? I dressed up, just in case. ( just doing my little part ,Lord)

2) "Lord, could you please keep the plane from landing too soon. (If you get my drift..)

It's a shorten list.

I'd also really love it if a Flash Mob would erupt during my flight.

Maybe the cast of the Lion King aboard?

I've always wanted to be a witness to one of those fantastic events! Maybe we'd all be in first class so I'd really feel apart of it. ;)

And how fun would it be to have a flamboyant flight attendant  demonstrating the proper way to buckle my seatbelt via Chorus Line style?

Maybe a Rockettes high kick pointing out the nearest exits?

My flight is delayed. They need to replace the fire alarm in the bathroom.

It's taking so long I believe they must have had to send someone to Wal Mart.

I guess I should want to know if my plane is on fire...

I hope I sit next to that young mom I see to my right.. Maybe I could walk up and down the isle with her little boy. ( Maybe he likes to pace too:)

And we could sing along to our Flash Mob and enjoy our real cloth napkins in first class:)

Anyway, I'll see if there is a way I could help her... It IS a 5 hour flight.

 Paying it forward for the wonderful people who offered to help with Aidan.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Meet Coe

In the past year I have had this conversation with the little family that lives here:)

"I really don't want anymore pets in the house. Especially pets in cages. Cages that need to be cleaned"

So, that being said, in the past year there have been fish tanks, frog terrariums, spiders encaged and about two weeks ago I went downstairs and saw something that looked like scaffolding extending halfway up to the ceiling.

Is that a cage?

It looked like some kind of animal urban development project.

Is that a cage?

On closer inspection, I spy two coiled up ferrets in a hammock hanging from the top of the CAGE.

On a little table next to them are mini icy drinks with little umbrellas floating atop and little ferret ear buds in.. and I'm pretty sure I hear this verse:

                                                       Nibblin' on sponge cake

                                                       Watching the sun bake.

      Wasted away again in Margaritaville.

  Search'n for my lost shaker of salt. 

That part might have been an exaggeration but, they did look very comfy and obviously scored the Penthouse. 

Oh, I give up. 

If a woman is talking 

But no one is listening

It's probably the Mom. 

A few weeks ago, we had quite a stormy night. My daughter sent me a text that my grandson wanted to come upstairs with me. 

He slipped into bed with me and did the sign for "cold" and "scared." I asked him if he wanted to pray and he put his palms together. 

I prayed aloud that the Lord would protect all the animals outside in the storm then I prayed for family members. 

Aidan loves to hear their names:

Uncle Justin

Aunt Amy

Baby Penny (he cracked a smile at that name..I know because I peeked:)

Uncle John 

Aunt Sophie....

I mean, who knows....maybe its raining where they are.

I prayed for any storms that might be in their lives.....

And then this came out of my mouth:

"And Lord, would you please bring Aidan a dog"

What? 

Where did THAT come from. 

This time both our eyes popped open. 

Silence. 

Then we looked at each other and started to crack up! 

We laughed and laughed and laughed:) 

All laughed out, we drifted off to sleep in the Peace that covered us.

Storm? 

What storm..? 

The next day (the very next day!) I received a call from a friend. 

She had recently met a woman in a dog park who trained service dogs. My friend was interested in training one of her dogs to be a service dog for herself. They planned a meeting to discuss it. Sitting at Panera, my friend started to tell this woman about Aidan and she showed her a picture of him. The conversation went from HER wanting/needing a service dog, to the idea of Aidan getting a service dog. (she is one of the most generous, selfless women I know)

To make a long, beautiful, furry story short..meet Coe: 

A black lab. A recuse dog.

I went to meet him at the home of the "foster mama":) The trainer met me there (along with my friend who crafted the whole idea:) and the trainer decided he would be a great candidate for a service dog! 

Coe will be trained to sleep with Aidan and bark to get our attention if Aidan needs us. He will learn basic sign language and basically be a companion for Aidan. 

Here's my thought for the day. 

Sometimes there are dark frightening storms in our lives.

Sometime our prayers fall flat - they come back to us like an echo. No ear to catch them. No response. Some prayers seem to go unanswered. 

"I know Lord, why your utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away...What other answer would suffice? - C. S. Lewis. 

And then there are the prayers that are answered before you even pray them. ("And Lord, please bring  Aidan a dog") They are all tied up with a bow...waiting to be delivered once uttered:)

Woof..

No Ordinary Day

Today is good so I want to make note of it. I want to remember.

Today.

It's September 11th. I remember September 11, 2001. I went blueberry picking at a local farm. It was quiet and peaceful - a pretty strange comparison to what had happened earlier that morning.

Unbelievable.

Since that time, I've tried to mark that day by doing something wholesome and well, normal.

Because that was no ordinary day, I try to emphasize and appreciate the normal everyday things I tend to take for granted.

I've recently learned that of the "Ten Happiest Small Places In America"... I live in #4.

That's pretty smiley;)

So, seems like a walk into this happy little town would be a good choice for this normal, ordinary day of mine.

I wondered if I could pull Aidan away from his computer games to take a trip to Disneyland ( er..I mean Downtown Blacksburg)... and he seemed pretty excited to do so.

That makes me pretty smiley:)

His seizures are getting worse so he has not been able to go to school and he can't really "walk the walk" with me, so I buckle and strap him into his red chair.

And we are off!

I think the rule is to walk towards on coming traffic, but we don't. Because I'm old and I do what I want.

La la la.

And, if we did, we wouldn't be able to play the awesome walking game I made up.

As we hear a car approaching from behind (and I pray they aren't texing) I say to Aidan "Aidan, I believe the next car to pass us will be......" Then I fill in the blank with the color. If I say "white" and a big black truck races by, Aidan pounds is fists into his knees in sheer agony that I was wrong. He's quite theatrical about it all:) I think that comes from being non-verbal..he definitely means to get his point across.

 If I guess correctly, he throws his hands up, fist pumps the air and laughs and laughs! Then we do a "victory lap" and I spin him around in his chair doing donuts.

Its pretty smiley:)

I'm not sure where our walk will take us. He might want to go to a bakery.  I guess I will if he makes me.....

I know what makes this such a happy town! The bread! Thanks to Bollo's and Our Daily Bread, I haven't had to buy a grocery store loaf of bread in over 20 years. Nope, not when there is Honey Wheat, Lemon Poppy seed, Portuguese Sweet and every European bread known to man.

Oh, thank you Jesus, that gluten is my friend!

Hallelujah! :)

We take our treat to the Farmer's Market lawn. I unbuckle Aidan from his chair. I have a wide rubber band that I wrap across his chest and hold on from the back so he is arms free. He wants to push his chair.

I think this gives him a feeling of power. (Or maybe he just likes things with wheels:)

A woman walks across the lawn and says hello and wants to hug Aidan. She fills him up with positive affirmations.

"Look at you go!"
"You are so strong!"
"I admire you!"

She tells me she owns the Ethiopian restaurant next store.

She says:

"I want you to come and eat with me"
"Anytime! Anytime!"
"I want you to come eat, anytime... on me"

Her kindness and big hearted invitation brings tears to my eyes.

Well, I can't just stand there and cry.

Not in the 4th happiest town in America...

She wants to feed us.

Is there any more gracious offer than that?

She tells me I am doing a good thing with my day.

She has no idea what this means to me.

I am rethinking this.

Maybe this is ...No ordinary day.

Grandparents Day!

This is my traditional post for Grandparents day! And look...it's Grandparents day!

It's been fun to write about my grandchildren. Aidan is my oldest so he has two poems (he's been around the longest:)
Aidan was born with a condition called Polymicrogyria. He is non-verbal and this condition is fluid and constantly changing. We never, ever take for granted a day with Aidan. He is precious, funny, happy and one of the best little human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing:) The best laugh I have ever heard!

AIDAN

Aidan talks with his hands
It tilts our world and changed the plan

Unaware of life's twists and turns
What we don't know, we soon must learn

Darkness tries to deposit fear
We cast it out ~ the Light appears

How much love does he possess? 
He's perfect in his brokenness. 

NO WORDS

No words
Slow starts
Big Smile
Melts hearts

Little words from little hands
A slight divergence from well laid plans

Not always sure to run this race
God steps in
Amazing Grace

No words
Slow starts
Big smiles
Melts hearts

And then came the news that a granddaughter was on her way! I wrote this while she was 'cook'n' in her mama's tummy before we knew her name:)

LITTLE BABY GIRL

Bird by bird
You'll make number three
Little baby girl
So precious to me

Growing strong and unafraid
The Lord declares you fearfully made

Little baby bird
What kind of girl will you be? 

I'm waiting
                   and waiting
                                       and waiting to see...

Cowboy boots and faded blues?
Layered in ruffles of a pink tutu? 

Dotted with glitter on lips and eyes?
Or out the door to make mud pies!

Already loved and prayed for in faith
Cover her Lord with your favor and grace

Bird by bird
You'll make number three
Little baby bird
So precious to me

                                      And here she is all grown up:) Miss Penny Ruth Thomas

In between these two precious ones we had an experience with adoption. It was a good situation and the baby has a wonderful home with precious parents. But, I will tell you this, adoption is process. (and I'm only the grandparent..my only job was in a supporting role) But, I remember coming home from the hospital and having a little panic attach and thinking "what have we done?..I need to go back and get our baby.. I couldn't sleep and couldn't sleep then this song come to mind. 

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads
And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

And I fall asleep
Counting my blessings

So many blessings to go around with this situation. We are a fortunate family! 

So I cried...and then jotted these thoughts down. 

 ANOTHER NEST

I have another little bird but he lives in a different nest. He was a gift from one mothers heart to the other. 

The one act healing an emptiness in each. A plan so lovingly designed by the Lord that I stand back in awe and fall on my knees in worship.

Beauty for ashes.

Out of chaos, a plan

I send this one heart whispers. I picture them traveling through the night sky, slipping through his window..spreading across his little chest and dropping into his heart.

A love beat.

Things I want him to know.

I whisper that I love him.

Life whispers

I listen closely

Just in case he whispers back. 

 I look forward to my future grandchildren who are coming...this I know. 

It's good to be a granny:) 

Roller Coaster

Someone has a new backpack.

Someone is going to school today.

Geez, one minute we are carrying him from the bed, to the sofa, to the bathroom - literally carrying him.

On minute we are ordering things like wheelchairs, walkers and bath seats.

Today, he is able to stand (a little bit wobbly and we are still holding on a bit) and walk around with a backpack loaded with fresh school supplies.

This has certainly been one roller coaster of a ride.

The way up is the most frightening. Click, click, click up into the unknown.

Our hands are gripped tightly to the sides.

The fear and anxiety shows up on our faces.

I never choose the roller coaster ride...

"One ticket for the Lazy River please..."

The ride throws you into one hair-raising turn after the other.

Sometimes, making a complete loop.

And then there's the drop.

Oh God, the drop...

Will it all go crashing down?

You realize your not breathing..

You will yourself to take a breath.

But, you're not alone on the ride.

There're people in front and folks behind...

You're hemmed in.

The death grip loosens.

One finger at a time.

You throw your hands up.

In complete surrender.

You trust in the engineering and the design and the wisdom of the creator of this particular ride.

After all, it does come with a warning:

"In this world, you will have trouble. But trust in me and you will be unshakable, assured and deeply at peace."

The ride levels off....a safe landing is in sight.

(You've earned a free pass on the Merry Go Round:)

So, here we are! The first day of 2nd grade!

Let the ride begin..

Soldier On

This is one of my favorite pictures of my granddaughter, Penny Ruth. The likely scenario is one that's played out in every toddler's life.

This is Penny's expression when she hears the word "No."

Let's just take a closer look:

Oh, I can see the wheels turning.. 

 No one likes that bitter word. Small, but a hard one to swallow-maybe more difficult than Supercalifragillsticexpialidocious - it chokes down,  even with a teaspoon of sugar.

 She's curious, as all toddlers are. Her mom just wants to protect her and at the same time teach her obedience. But, Penny has a will of her own. She wants what she wants and in this case, what she wants is inside the "no" cabinet. She doesn't understand the dangers involved. She's not walking or talking yet, but even at this young age, she has opened the gift of free will... and she's playing with it. 

I call this the "Eve Factor." 

I wonder what would have happened if Eve just moved her beautiful naked body down to the next tree? Probably just over there to her right. A few small steps across that soft meadowy foundation... no threat of weeds poking at her perfect little toes.

How about a pear? I realize its not our favorite shape...but take one for the team, Eve!

Have a pear, Eve. 

 Must have been one beautiful piece of fruit hanging there from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. 

But, I understand. I'm just like Eve. 

And therein lies the fragile, delicate balance. 

"Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness" 

Choice. 

Take your pick..

We were not designed to be automated robots - that wouldn't be a very satisfying creation. 

The earth is like one big off leash dog park. No choke chains. Free to sniff out our own path. Woof. 

Even if you don't believe the creation story, it's easy to see that man is potentially good or evil. It's a free will universe. 

This is no paradise. Tragedies happen. Bombs go off. The good die young. Children are born with disabilities or even end up with little tubes sticking out from their tummies. 

Last night, I got home late and snuck into Aidan's room to check on him. A little smile spread across his face but the first sign he made was the one for "pain". I said, "I know" and that I was sorry. He signed "go slow" telling me to be gentle and careful and he pointed to the white plastic tube on his tummy. I reached under the covers and started to count his toes like I've done since he was a baby - telling him it was helping to make him strong and that he was being so brave. 

 Then, like a coward I left the room, ready for a breakdown ..which happened later when I heard him cry from the room below mine. The doctors cut through muscle, it hurts and he is uncomfortable. 

Pain entered me and spread until there was nowhere else to go. I wanted to squeeze it all out, like a great big sponge. But, it came out one drop at a time..tears are another silent language. 

 Then, in the midst of his cries I hear his mom's voice - and a little giggle slips out of Aidan:) I don't know where he finds this well of happiness, but thank God he does, because it's contagious and helps us all. 

He's a fighter. (with cute little buns:) 

This is one brave little soldier. 

So, we choose to soldier on...

.