Such a topsy turvy time this week; already it seems hard to figure out what has happened on what day. It has been a mixture of staying with my mother-in-law, my mother staying and returning to my mother-in-law. Throw in a night under the stars and a broken freezer….
My 94 year old mother-in-law is causing concern. I might have mentioned before how she is stubbornly independent and this is now catching up with her. It has been a roller-coaster time for us which included the personal alarm company phoning us at 3am a couple of days ago. We quickly drove the 6 miles and found she was muddled and confused. We stayed for the remainder of the night.
Next day she fell and an ambulance was called. To cut a long story short, we agreed not to hospitalise her, especially in view of COVID-19. We have had times of being alert and on-the-ball. Other times of not being “quite with it” as she puts it.
These periods includes asking me, in a slightly frightened way “when are the others coming?”. When I asked who she meant, she replied to say Rachel and Doug. She was very perplexed when I said it was me that she was talking to and we were there for her.
The net result is I feel we are living out of our suitcases and I have to stop and think what day it is! Things are very unsettled but we believe it is right to love and care for Rachel’s Mum. These might be her last few days, or having proved significant resilience in the past, she may muster the grit to plod on for a few more years. We just don’t know.
Whenever a spare moment at The Cottage crops up, I am making myself busy in moving a few things around and doing a spot of cleaning, trying to make things more comfortable for us in the rooms which haven’t been used for years. For Rachel it is like stepping back into her time warped childhood home with its interesting collection of furniture and family heirlooms.
There is, it has to be said, a fair share of rather odd things here. Rachel will often say (in a jokey way) “you never know when you’ll need….. a mile long roll of polythene…. 67 unused fountain pens….. a box of 150 tiny address books…. scales and basket for weighing a baby…. and the extraordinary list goes on.
A night under the stars
I can’t remember who had the idea but a plan was hatched and we decided to sleep under the stars! We have a secluded back garden with lots of trees. This combined with a balmy warm night with clear skies, we trotted out with the hammocks, pillows and duvets (as you do).
After a great deal of wriggling I wrapped myself up in the double duvet to the point where I could hardly move. Quickly I drifted off to sleep and woke at dawn, feeling so snug and delighted with the experience. Rachel, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Bleary eyed I wandered back inside to find her asleep in our bedroom. I couldn’t back out and felt I had to complete my night outside; it had been such an enchanting thing to do!
Perhaps I’ll leave my Wallace and Grommet style repair of our freezer for another time, together with a couple of hard runs. One was so uncomfortable I almost turned around. Instead I pressed on and I made it back alright not the most enjoyable of runs but they all even count the end.
All for now, feeling so tired after such a topsy turvy time. Off to sleep now but not under the stars zzzzzzz