Monday, Monday, So Good to Me

My dear friend Roxy called in the middle of all this and suggested vehemently that I ignore my family and go back to my previous meandering way of writing my blog. I definitely agree with her. It is not nearly as fun for me to try to pigeonhole my life and my thinking into various categories. It makes everything seem unrelated and inside the box. My synapses rebel at having fences put around where they can go. If you are going to comment, just make it clear in your comment about which tidbit you are commenting.

While mom was happily viewing all these photos and videos last night with Saul, she suddenly became very sick and dizzy and could not walk back to her room. Saul had the idea to sit her in an office chair and push her back to bed. She fell asleep almost immediately, but I got up several times last night to slip quietly into her room and listen for the sound of her breathing. Saul was up several times last night using the bathroom in reaction to the medication for his colonoscopy today. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night. The only reason I didn't call an ambulance was that I knew Mom was going to see her doctor today.

Larry Shipper arrived to take Saul to the hospital at 8:15 a.m. Mom didn't feel great this morning, but managed to get dressed and walk into the kitchen. She usually insists on getting her own breakfast, but this morning, I got it all together for her. My sister, Adele, arrived to pick up Mom at 11:45 a.m. In between, I shlepped the moon bounce out of the garage and set it up because the weather looked wonderful at first. Sami used it for 10 minutes and Izzy wasn't interested. Within an hour, the sky got as black as night outside and I shlepped it back in. Ten minutes later, the sun came out and stayed that way most of the day.

Almost everyone arrived within a minute of each other at 11:45 a.m. Adele brought Randi along, so she could bring mom back from the doctor, Saul and Larry arrived bearing the news that Saul had two small polyps that were easily removed and that he felt fine and didn't need to go back for three years. Jamie arrived also to meet her mom and grandmom with her new ultrasound photo (see guest blog below) and do some errands with her mom. We all had a raucous impromptu lunch with me pulling all the leftovers from Friday out of the refrigerator to feed us all. When Randi brought mom back, we got the good news that the doctor felt her heart was fine and she did not need to see a cardiologist and that her pneumonia was gone. Randi and Jamie had both had bouts of dizziness while on the same antibiotic as mom was taking for the pneumonia. Her final pill was this evening, so hopefully, the good spirits that arose from all the camaraderie and good news today will carry her through the next few days.

Jamie stuck around for a while and had dinner with us--delivery pizza and ice cream. She just called to say she arrived home safely. Alex called the girls from Israel today. His plane took off and landed as scheduled. Alex was called upon to lead an adult tour when one of the rabbis injured his knee. He was just there in December leading a teen tour.

When Larry came this morning, he brought me an article from The Wall Street Journal about elder blogging. Then, when I asked Roxy how the writer's group meeting went this morning, she said that Cynthia had brought in a copy of an article about elder blogging from The Wall Street Journal. I am really convinced that there are no coincidences. Rabbi Sidney Greenberg used to say that coincidences are God's way of remaining anonymous. So now that I introduced the subject of blogging to my writing class, here is the link to that article about elder blogging entitled "Put It in Writing.”

I think that this is the most amazing form of communication ever. Ronni Bennett has been blogging for four years now and look what she has accomplished! No longer does one need to harness one's imagination, inspiration, or creativity to conform to what is commercially considered fit to print. You can simply run your ideas up the flagpole and see who salutes. How self-affirming!

In addition, there is the kaleidoscope of sight and sound to accompany the written word, appealing to more of the senses. I only wish there was a way to transmit the smell also--the scent of flowers and trees on a summer day, the steam of an iron on freshly washed cotton. Perhaps there will be a library in the future where one can grab the appropriate scent just as one can grab the appropriate graphic right now to transmit an idea.

It was a very happy Monday!