Pondering

PONDERING (Hint Poetry)

He was pondering the medicine chest.

"Toothbrush?" I answered unasked.

Right. More pondering.

"Toothpaste?" I answered unasked.

Right. More pondering.

Where will this disease take us?

Meal Time

For a while I was worried about preparing dinner time meals for Gregory. Dinners usually consist of a fish/chicken/meat course, one or two vegetables, potato, salad, and sometimes bread. There are condiments and spices, butter, salad dressing, salt & pepper, etc to be added table side. 


I began to notice that Gregory was having trouble figuring out what to do with everything I placed in front of him and it was taking a long time before he could actually begin eating. I would hint and point and this helped sometimes but was aggravating for both of us.


I was afraid that I was going to have to simplify our meals and even had nightmares in which I served one course at a time and we didn't finish with dinner until breakfast time. Another possibility was one dish meals and I hated that idea.


Finally I came up with a solution and it seems to be working for now. I do all the dressing, seasoning, buttering, etc before we begin eating. This evening when I put the plate in front of him the beets were sliced, the green beans buttered and seasoned, the salad dressed, the bread sliced. That's all he had to do was eat the meatloaf.


He still has trouble deciding which utensil to use, fork-spoon-knife all seem to become one. Always having been neat at table, thanks to his mom Helen's training, I find that he uses his fingers more often but still appropriately.


For now, problem solved. This seems to be the way with us. Old solutions die causing new problem to arise which lead to improved ways of dealing with most situations. Hope this continues for a long time to come so I do not have to think about what the future might hold.

To Live Misfortune Down

Last night Gregory and I watched David Copperfield from the 1999 Masterpiece Theater presentation and rented from Netflix. Enjoyed it a lot and took this quote from the movie to share with you. It was spoken by Ms. Betsy Trockwood, played by Maggie Smith.

We must meet our reverses boldly

And not suffer them to frightness

We shall act the play out

And live misfortune down.

There is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem

This may seem tongue in cheek, it does not upset me, but rather is an observation. It is a true representation of part of the last five years of my life. The difficult part. I am aware that the wonderful, joyful, magical part far outnumbers this partial "Life Event List."

Five years ago, I identified five "problems:" 1) Gregory had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, 2) My father was quite ill and probably dying, 3) My good friend Marla had been diagnosed with a number of cancers and was definitely dying, 4) Our cat Hoover was now deaf and blind, crying a lot, and probably would not be able to make the move to the new condo, and 5) My mother's imminent death troubled me.

So far four of the five "problems" have been solved, an unexpected one occurred, and a new one was added. My father died on March 5, 2005. Marla died on March 15, 2005. Hoover died June 2007. Mom died on March 27, 2010. My Aunt Annette, a significant mentor in my life, died in August 2011.

The new "problem" is that our cat Mariah is in the throws of Renal Failure and is beginning to show signs of being uncomfortable. We will probably have to make her end of life decision soon.

Gregory is still healthy and strong, the only real "problem" left. Funny I don't think much about my own death being a "problem." I quote myself: "It all ends happily ever after."