Visiting Mom Yesterday

   Angie called me yesterday, right before lunch, and said she was planning to visit mom. Would I like to go too?

   I thought it was a great idea since I needed to take Isaiah to his piano lesson anyway, we would go there first.

  I have been taking Isaiah for piano lessons for the past six months now because he plays by ear and I thought it would be good for him to learn to read music.

I think he is learning. At least I hope he is. He says his teacher likes his music. More often than not though I see him listening to a song and then playing it without music in front of him.

His teacher likes for him to play a new song for her every week. He said she corrected him on his song yesterday where he was playing it wrong at one place. I guess his ears messed up.

  So be that as it may be. I just trust his teacher. If she allows him to play that way I figure she knows what she is doing. She is 85 years old. She seems to be in good health. Maybe teaching and playing piano keeps her mind in good working order.

Mom is 85. I wish she was playing and teaching piano.

When we got there yesterday she was still in the dining room. She had just finished with lunch so we took her back to her room. She was in a happy frame of mind. She was so delighted to see Isaiah. She would just beam with joy and smile whenever she looked at him.

I'm not sure if he is Isaiah in her mind or not. He could be Lucas or Marc to her. He has grown a lot this past year and could look more like his older brothers to her than the little boy he was 4 years ago, when she would have known without a doubt who he was.

We were remembering yesterday that it was 4 years ago that Dad was at Mayo lying at death's door and the Doctors were telling us he would be going to a nursing home, if he ever left the hospital alive at all. They said we must prepare for a new normal. At the very best he would be on a feeding tube.

  They were right about one thing. He isn't the same. He walks with a stoop and is a lot thinner and older. But they were wrong about his quality of life. He is very self sufficient. Basically we clean his house, do his laundry and provide meals in a hit or miss fashion.

When I went to clean his house on Sat. I freaked out a little. I saw his sidewalk was way too icy. When I left it was almost dark and he wasn't home from seeing mom yet. I thought about how horrible it would be if he fell in the dark and couldn't make it into the house and no one would know. So later I called Darwin and they got it salted and taken care of.

  When I think of old people, I wonder, why does life center so much around "us"? Old people still matter. They have real lives and real memories. Why do they get " forgotten"? Why do we look at them as "over the hill" or like a lost worn out shoe left under the bed?

My mom is only a shell of her former self, but she can still smile!

My Dad? He is a rare wonder. I love to hear his thoughts and ideas. He has a good understanding of who God is and I could sit and listen to him and Steve talk for hours.

  I think we could learn something from the old Native American culture when it comes to honoring our elders.

The truth is, we are only one or two steps away from being old ourselves.

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Court Hearing

  On Monday Dad and I were scheduled to be at a hearing for guardianship for Mom. Since we never had a POA done while she still knew what she was doing and could still sign her name.

  I had never been in a court room before so it was very interesting. Very formal and slightly intimidating.

  But mostly I was interested in the building. Such beautiful wood, ornate carvings, massive stone columns and stonework. I felt like I was stepping back in time and would be sure to encounter fine gentlemen dressed in formal wear and elegant ladies dressed in beautiful dresses that though they are ornate and beautiful would sufficiently cover.

  As I sat there with Steve waiting till time to go in, I was drinking it all in. There was a beautiful staircase with lovely carved banisters. It was so delicious! Then I noticed someone had commited a crime. I really hope they are doing jail time for it.

  I noticed that over the top of a beautiful wooden door was an ordinary piece of fake wood paneling. Whatever! It looked like an imposter to me. I looked around at other doors and spyed another one with a square of ugly plywood. How could anyone do that? I wondered. I finally located a door that was original and found that there was actually supposed to be a square of glass above the doors instead of those ugly wood fillins. I complained bitterly to Steve, but he was only amused at my annoyance.

  You can't tell me the county can't afford a few pieces of glass to keep that building beautiful!

Inside the court room was awe inspiring. Huge rounded ceiling, wood everywhere, carved banisters,  beautiful tall windows with carved wooden doors that closed over the windows behind the Judge's seat.

I was glad I was only in there for a guardianship hearing and not something I was in trouble for. My mind went to the last judgement and I thought about when we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ to receive for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

There's something about seeing a Judge that makes you think, ......and why do they wear black? Just a thought. This guy was nice though. He kept pulling on his beard when he was thinking. I guess it's OK for judges to wear beards. There was pictures of previous judges on the wall dating back to most likely the early 1800s. They all looked very sober and intimidating.

  That was my morning in court. We got the guardianship taken care of and I got to see the inside of a court room.

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