A good plan and a hair crime

A while back, I wrote about my 85-year-old mother wanting to get a computer and me nixing the idea. I really couldn't imagine her learning any new technology (since she has never shown the slightest interest in anything like this before now). Well, she decided she was going to get one and asked Amanda (her…

A funny thing happened…

I went shopping with my mother a few weeks ago, and there was a box of shoes in the clearance dept. marked $1 per pair. Nothing fit me, but my mother found these camouflage sneakers (Keds) and bought them even though they were too big. She wore them for an hour, shuffling around (because every…

Getting out of the driver’s seat

I wrote the post about my hair yesterday (thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the wonderful, supportive comments. I read them slowly this morning before I started to write and appreciate every one!) and then left for the entire day to take my mother up north to the town where she grew…

Take the love

Last evening Jack and I helped my mother move a piece of furniture. As we were leaving she said, "There was a sale on corn at Price Chopper. It isn't local, but it was 20 cents an ear so I bought you a dozen when I was shopping on Monday. I hope it is still…

Trusting the Good

My mother called yesterday afternoon asked me to bring her back the book that she loaned me a few weeks ago (the book that she said she didn't want back). I said, "Mom, I loaned that book to someone. You said that you didn't want it back." She replied, "Oh, I never said that! Never…

Early morning grace, looking through a new lens

A few years ago, Jack signed up for a digital photography course at one of the "Great Camps" in the Adirondacks. He is a very good photographer but wanted to expand with more digital photography.  At the last-minute, he couldn't go, and his money could not be refunded,  so I took his place. I was…

Bounce: The capacity to “spring”

When I was a little girl, on May 1st (or maybe the night before) we made tiny baskets of flowers and anonymously left them on the doorsteps of our neighbors. I haven't thought about this tradition in so many years...how sweet was that?!  I remember leaving them, and how excited I felt seeing them on…

Looking for something to love (and the winners of the Mary’s Skin Survival Balm)

My mother and I met for breakfast yesterday. As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, she said, "These are not all that comfortable (pointing to her shoes) I'm going to look for another pair today." I looked down at her feet. She was wearing sandals. No socks. Even though it was April 2nd,…

thank you mom

It dawned on me the other day that I was having more irritated feelings, when I thought about my mother, than loving ones. This is not new. My mother has had very firm ideas about what was right and wrong, and she never hesitated to express them!  Growing up, we butted heads...a lot. She has…