My Elementary BFF

This is my elementary school BFF Carol. We hadn't seen each other most likely since 1975. Our moms had gotten divorces and with that it meant moving. We started our lives in one city and Carol moved to a place that wasn't as country as where we moved to. We moved to Spoon Mountain in Vermont. It was the last house on top of the mountain and we were in seclusion! Times changed for us and living about an hour away from each other was hard to do. We didn't have drivers licenses let alone permits. How about this for two 50 year old chicks?

How did 2012 get here?

WOW, 2012 is here and the year just flew by!

I had two wonderful trips back home to the country roads that I grew up in. I went to Vermont for Mother's day. My mom sounded very tired and needed a boost of happiness. My step dad had won the fight on Lymphoma Cancer and during his last treatment he suffered a stroke and then never walked again.

Illness is a hard thing: It can be a good thing to spend all that time together growing old with me. Small communinites are great for visitors and seeing people. But as we can see time flies by and life is rushing off into the horizon. Five years being bed bound and taking care of a loved one day in and day out is a great gift of time given and also a robber of time. Days blend into days and next thing you know five years have passed. Multiple trips to the hospital for in between illnesses and countless docotr appointments that there is no time for visitors to come on by.

I hadn't been home in years so I decided to go home for Mother's day. My girls love our Mother;s day celebrations but I had to just be with my mom. She was sooo happy! My eyes were opened up to see how every day life with mom was.

The visiting nurse came every day to help with getting Ray ready for the day. I saw a great relationship that formed through this life altering event. Ida was so loving and reliable. Although no one else really stopped in. I saw what it takes to go to a doctor appointment. Mom being 5'4 and Ray being 6'3 and a very big giant; there wasn't a small village to help. It takes a lift machine to move him form the bed to the wheel chair. Once placed in the chair mom would get him strapped in with bungie cords and belts to make sure he was secure for the ride. Once settled she would bring him down the ramp to the van and it was a site to see. The power would be turned on for the ramp to come down and get ready for taking this man into the heart of the van. The chair would get secured into place and off we would go. The days travels would exhaust Ray and he would be sleeping for the rest of the day. During that doctor appointment I got to see my elementary best girlfriend. We hadn't seen each other since 1975. We were so excited and made plans to have our moms together for lunch on Mother's day. Mom made plas for a sitter to come in and stay with Ray and we had four hours to shop and do lunch.