Three More Books

         Often when I check out books from the library, it will be with the intention of proof reading materials that Jenna might enjoy.  Occasionally I’ll check out books that I know she has absolutely no interest in but might interest me.  I generally read young fiction because I don’t have time for wordy adult novels.

I still have not read Watt Key’s Alabama Moon, but I did just finish Fourmile.  Loved the book.  Easy reading (finished it in less than two weeks – even with Jenna’s constant interruptions) and good for imagination.

         I’m guessing Foster (who tells the story) is an eleven year old boy who lives with his mom on the farm (Fourmile) that was his dad’s dream.  Only his dad had died the year before.

Foster has a dog named Joe who came to him right after his father died. 

He hates his mom’s social interest, Dax. 

When Foster starts painting the fence that surrounds the property, he develops a huge interest in a stranger named Gary Conway.

         The book is very well written.  I really like Watt Key’s style.  He brings a flavor of Alabama to the reader and an ability to feel what Foster feels and see the things he sees.  I really appreciated having the same sense as Foster.  And how he sums up the story in the last chapter.  I especially like his last two lines about memories. So profound.  I already turned the book in and so do not have the exact quote.

        

         Jenna and I finished reading a book called “The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate.  Fantastic book.  Also Easy Reading.  For the most part we read at night before she went to sleep.

         I may have mentioned it before, but I tend to get into books a lot better when they are told in first person – even if that first person happens to be a gorilla.  Allows me understand better how the main character views things and what is being felt than when narrated in third person.

Ivan is a silverback gorilla who lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  The story is told from his point of view. 

Ivan was captured in captivity and purchased for display to attract and draw crowds and drivers passing on the highway.  He has friends, but does not know if other gorillas even exist.

His best friends are Stella, an elephant, and Bob, a stray dog.  He also has a human friend named Julia.  She gives him crayons and other art supplies and he draws and his owner sells his pictures to tourists who will pay outrageous prices.

When Stella gets to old and out of shape to perform her tricks, the circus owner brings in another elephant named Ruby.  Stella tells Ivan about the zoo and says that is where Ruby needs to be.  She believes the humans treat animals better at the zoo than at the Big Top.  She makes Ivan promise that he will find a way to get Ruby away from Big Top.

Okay, I guess it’s a little far fetched.  There really was an Ivan and a Big Top mall and when the mall went bankrupt the real Ivan ended up at the zoo.  So the book is based on an actual character.  But it’s not like Katherine Applegate was able to sit down and have an actual interview with Ivan. 

I like and appreciate the imagination of the author – who of course doesn’t really know Ivan’s story, but has made one up.  Jenna and I both LOVED this book.

         When we finished we moved onto Wonder by RJ Palacio.  It is about a 5^th child who has a face deformity and about to enter public school for the first time.  Jenna keeps on asking what kind of deformity.  I told her it doesn’t matter.  The point of the story is how to treat others – not what we look like.

         I must confess that I had actually stopped reading it with Jenna and would read whenever I'd pick her up from school.  I was able to finish the book while waiting outside of mom's room.  It is a really fun book narrated by a variety of people who each tells his or her point of view.  

        The story focuses on a boy who has a unique appearance - a face that makes most people do a double take or are horrified or threatened by what they see.  August is fully aware of the reaction and behavior of those around him and school is a challenge but proves to be possibly the best thing that he's ever done.
        The story takes us from August's point of view to his sister, Olivia, to his friend Jack (and it is Jack's narration that had me laughing the hardest) and other friends of both August and Olivia.

         Very well written.  Highly entertaining.  And very thought provoking.  Enlightened and threaded with precepts and moral values.  Loved the book.

Still Waiting

Kayla and Corey spent Thursday night at the hospital with mom.  And on Friday morning all of her children surrounded her and enjoyed conversation – especially when mom would laugh at just the right moment as though she was laughing at our jokes, but sometimes it just felt like she was really listening to someone outside of our presence.

Corey asked mom if she had a favorite hymn.  She responded that it was a secret. She must have been conversing with someone on the other side.  Perhaps a suggestion had been made: “They are planning your funeral.  Can you believe it?  We should just make your pulse count go higher.  You outlive the two weeks you’ve been given.  We’ll show them”

Mom was laughing. It would make for a great final memory.  Her pulse went up. She spends most of the day just sleeping.  We can get her to drink sometimes but she won’t eat anything.  Hospice designed for making loved ones as comfortable as possible.  She was not comfortable wearing the oxygen tube and so we had it removed. She looks quite peaceful when she’s sleeping. 

Some of our conversation went a bit like this (though mine and Corey’s words are actual, the others are imagined)

Me:       So how long are you staying

Corey:    I can stay indefinitely

Angel:    Did you hear that?

Mom:     Coery is such a good son.

Angel:     He said “indefinitely” Do you want to test him?

Mom (smiling): That would be kind funny.

Her pulse went up and they have moved her back to Alpine Ridge where she will spend her final days. It almost felt like a cruel joke - though a joke she would have never gone along with, as she has never been one to toy with people’s emotions.  It’s highly probably that Joh may have to return to Vegas before mom passes on.

It would not be a very nice thing if Corey stayed for thirty days or so and return to Las Vegas and then return for the funeral. Mom wanted to return to Alpine Ridge before she returns to dad.  I will take Jenna to Alpine Ridge this morning.

Waiting

Before Sunday

Mom was laughing,

she was walking

and dressing herself.

She was singing

on Thursday as Harold

accompanied on guitar.

Sometime between four and six

on Sunday morning

she got out of her chair. 

We don’t know why. 

She may have been headed

toward the bathroom. 

Or perhaps she could feel the

pain of a mild heart attack.

She was checked on at four. 

She was sleeping peacefully

in her chair.  But when

she was checked in on at six,

she was found on the floor. 

Her clothes were wet

with urine and perspiration.

She was loaded into

an ambulance and rushed

to the hospital.  Her legs

were badly swollen. 

She was diagnosed with

rhabdomyolysis  . 

The infection spread into

her legs and

kidneys and heart

probably.

She’d been hooked up

to machines and

needles and

was given cat scans,

an MRI,

a pick line and

an emergency surgery

on her legs. 

Her children felt so

helpless as I imagine

the doctors did too. 

Everybody did his or her job

best to his or her ability. 

We learned that her

kidneys had failed and that

she would need dialysis

and at least one of her legs

would have to be amputated.

On Wednesday two children stayed

the night at the hospital

so that she wouldn’t be alone.

On Thursday

we spent the day waiting –

waiting for the doctors to come,

waiting for Corey to arrive,

waiting to be moved

to a bigger room.

Mom had lots of visitors. 

A Lot. There was

the Relief Society Presidency,

Ross and Fern,

Peggy and George,

the bishop

and Harold.

Hunched over Harold.  

Sharply dressed –

wanting to spend time

with his lady friend.

Sunny and Fern called him

an angel.  And he is. 

Jenna made a card for Harold

who has been beside himself

since he learned

that the ambulance

had taken mom away.

She might never return

to the assisted living

facility.  She may die

at the hospital.

The doctor came and

explained about hospice. 

Mom was moved

to a bigger room. 

Corey arrived

and is spending the night

with her

at the hospital.

Now we are waiting

for dad to escort mom home. 

It’s time already. 

It is somewhat freaky

how quickly it happened. 

A week ago she was active. 

Now she is in bed. 

And we’re still waiting. 

                                                                                     kfralc

My Most Unfavorite Time of the Day

         I generally drop Jenna off at school a half hour before she needs to be there.  I also arrive on the lot before all other cars so as to not fight school traffic.  Jenna has always taken her time walking to school or across the field.  When I am the driver who is picking her up, I welcome her dawdling.  In first grade we were always the last car to leave the parking lot. I HATE school traffic.

        

         Kayla was looking for a sitter for her two and as Jenna’s school is the same distance from their house as it is from my own,  I figured I could watch them at Kayla’s house and then pick up Jenna.  I should have left her house the minute that Kayla came home. 

        It’s been four years since I had lived in that same neighborhood and wasn’t taking into account that the school in that area lets out a half hour earlier than Vantana.  Before I went out to my car (which was parked on the street) I saw the yellow bus pulled up by Kayla’s house.  I wasn’t aware that there was a bus stop on that street.

         The stop sign was out and lights were flashing.  It was behind me and I didn’t know if I had to wait for it or not.  I waited for just a bit until I realized that I wouldn’t be getting the attention of the bus driver really soon (as she was visiting with a parent) and as I was not passing the bus, I pulled forward through a maze of cars and dumpsters (that must have been really great fun for the bus driver)

         I have never liked the main street which is closest to street where Bill and Kayla live – nor the cross street at the second intersection.  Lights were blinking red indicating that traffic wouldn’t be moving at a rapid rate.  Ahead of that were the spaces of red X’s and green arrows and three lanes of broken yellow lines that always make me feel like I’m driving inside of a video game.  Perhaps it’s popular in bigger cities, but that is the only street I know of with that set up.

         What’s ironic is the street seemed desolate for decades.  I remember when my mom had driven out to her uncle’s house sometimes when her mom was in town.  The drive seemed sooo sooo long.  Now it’s congested and makes me tense. 

         Bus STOP sign, dumpsters, children, traffic lights and merging . . . What’s normally a ten minute drive took me eighteen minutes.  Fortunately I had given myself twenty.  But alas, I wasn’t the first one to arrive in the parking lot.  I was too late just to park in the shade.  But I didn’t have a long wait like I did when Jenna was in first grade.  Actually she’s been getting out to the car rather quickly.   Must be the seven habits.

Mixed Cereal and Mutant Corn

            When the boys were younger and left cereal boxes on the table, I would say to them, “If you don’t put the cereal away, I will.”

            That actually sounded great to them until they realized that I would not be returning all of the cereal boxes to the cupboard.  If there was less than a forth of a box (or bag) left, I wouldn’t allow for it to have it’s own space.  I would combine the cereals into one container.   And I would not purchase more cereal until what ALL of the cereal was gone

            The boys came to a fast realization that mixing TRIX, Raisin Bran and Sugar Puffs together was NOT cool.  (There was generally three to five flavors of combined cereals)  They learned rather quickly to put cereal away on their own.

            And then there’s Jenna who thinks having Froot Loops mixed in with Lucky Charms is quite delightful.  It’s what she had for breakfast this morning (well, knock offs of those brands anyway) Gross. 

            We took some rather lush looking corn from the community garden.  Ours was still in the mutant stage.  But our 12 kernels actually tasted better than the kernels that covered the community corn.  Ours were sweet.  The community’s looked a lot better than they tasted.

            We also brought a cantaloupe home.  I’d never seen cantaloupe with the exterior that it had.  It looked more like a squash.

            It was juicy though.  Possibly the juiciest melon I’ve had – though I’m still not convinced that it didn’t contain squash seeds as it grew.  It wasn’t sweet at all.  It tasted like a squash and melon combined.  Not impressed.  I’m NOT a gardener.

Where's My Purse?

My mom once told me that the first purse that she ever owned was red and had a picture of a cow.  She was five.

I don't know if that's actually when she became obsessed with having a purse with her at all times.  But they seemed to be a part of her when I was growing up.  Back then she had several purses – assorted shapes and colors.  I don’t know how often she changed them.  I know she went through many.

As a child, I don’t think I paid attention to the weight of mom’s purse, but as an adult, I realized she was often toting around the equivalence of a bowling ball – I kid you not.  And some of the heaviest purses were also the smallest ones that she owned.

Okay, maybe as a mom it does seem necessary to lug around an extra case of bandages, a pocket knife, a sewing kit, a comb, 40 pens (only two of them worked) , a fork, and even a hot dog – because you just never know.  Much of the weight was due to the pound and a half of keys that she carried, not to mention the twenty dollars worth of tips usually all in quarters and pennies.

 

A heavy purse that constantly gained weight – at a rather rapid rate.  Many purses became garbage due to the overloaded abuse of items.  And then she would go through her closet to retrieve one she hadn’t used in a while – do a thorough cleaning as she transferred over and gradually add weight to it all over again.

There are a few posts on my blog in which I refer to mom and Alice, the only two residents that always have her purse in hand.  I would think that mom could give it up by now.  But it’s a part of her.  But she might as well just tote around a bowling bag – seriously.  Why in the world would it need to be that heavy at assisted living?  She doesn’t have/need keys or change anymore.  This afternoon I learned that my mom is a kleptomaniac (one of the stages of her dementia)
.  
As she was asleep at the hospital, I decided it would be a good time to clean out her purse. I found a large set of keys.  I knew they weren't hers.  There was a door stop and one of Harold’s picks (which the aide on duty says he never uses anyway – well, yeah – if it’s in mom’s purse I don’t imagine he does have opportunity to use it) a DVD of Fiddler on the Roof (amazingly not broken or scratched) 4 tubes of lipstick, an unused tube of toothpaste (still in the box) four latex gloves, monthly newsletters, the pictures that she had removed when she moved in (three of them bent) one toy maraca, I think a whistle, three coin purses, two pairs of glasses, three plastic spoons (one was wrapped) 4 packages of tissue – not to mention all the many wadded up tissues that were in each compartment, two scarves (one was a long one for winter), the cell phone we had disconnected before she went into assisted living and several barrettes, 


 




It turns out the keys belonged to one of the sisters who comes to helps out with the Relief Society activity that is offered to the residence once a month.  I remember she had the cell phone that belonged to maintenance for abut three days.  I turned that in too.  Oh, mom!