Tired

The whole experience of dealing with Mom on Tuesday evening was extremely upsetting to all of us. Saul and I both slept fitfully Tuesday night. He had nightmares about his mother, sister, and brother-in-law as he did for a while when his uncomfortable situation first occurred. Unfortunately, as rational as the mind can be about a situation, in dreams the subconscious takes over. I also had bad dreams, though more non-specific. Since I wasn't sleeping well anyway, I arose and wrote my blog yesterday in the wee hours of the morning as I am today and was able to head off the girls at 7:30 a.m. when they came to wake us. Saul was up shortly after that anyway.

When Mom joined us in the kitchen during breakfast, she waved me off with her hand when I wished her a good morning and wouldn't speak to me. Saul got the same treatment. She took her pills, drank some orange juice, and then made her oatmeal and left it sitting on the table and went back to her room. She didn't come back to eat her oatmeal until we all had left the table to get out of our pajamas. Saul and I decided we should get out of the house for most of the day. He checked the Net for activities while I was on the phone speaking to various people who called me in the morning--Roxy, Leslie Fine, and Adele.

Leslie discussed Mom's resistance to having someone stay with her for the two weeks and suggested that perhaps a relative or someone else known by the family could stay and keep an eye on her. The real issue is her diabetes and the fact that falling asleep and not eating for an extended period of time (even 6 or 7 hours during the day) could send her into a diabetic coma. I told Leslie that if that option had been available, I would not have contacted her. I asked her not to count us out yet while Ken, Adele and I work on the situation. She has been understanding.

We had a number of errands to do. I needed to return a few of the shirts I had bought at Marshall's in DC which had been mismarked as far as size. Saul needed to pay a visit to Chestnut Hill College to deliver his signed contract and other papers having to do with his medical plan. The girls were very impressed with the castle-like appearance of the college and wanted to go down every hallway to see where it led. We humored them for a while and also introduced them to some of Saul's colleagues and friends who made a fuss over them and plied them with lollipops.

By the time we finished, it was lunchtime and we took them to the King Buffet in Plymouth Meeting Mall so that they could eat their fill of sushi and ice cream, their favorite foods. The buffet is very inexpensive and we definitely get our money's worth in the beautiful assortment of sushi. We had planned to take a trip to the Sturgis Pretzel Factory in Lititz for the afternoon, but realized at lunch that the girls were too tired to stay awake on the ride home and we were just as exhausted. They both took a two-hour nap and so did we. Mom's door was closed when we arrived home and we decided not to disturb her. It appeared that she had eaten lunch. When the girls awakened us at 4 p.m. we pushed ourselves out of bed to get in some time at the pool. Wednesday afternoons are for clay and Sami lives for clay. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the clay teacher was getting ready to finish up. They had to content themselves with the pool. Sami decided to try to pass her deep-water test. One of the lifeguards, Amy, who has just been wonderful with the girls, was available to test her. She didn't pass mainly due to a lack of coordinated technique. We arranged with Amy to give Sami some private swimming lessons when she is available at $15 for a half hour.

Ken called on my cell while we were at the pool to discuss the situation with Mom and for once seems stymied as to how to proceed. I am sure he will come up with a plan, though, and implement it in some way. His great strength lies in doing just that.

We returned home by 6:15 p.m. and I helped the girls shower while Saul showered and got dressed to drive to the synagogue for a board meeting. Jerry and Betty Weiss, whom he was driving to the meeting, arrived early and met the girls as I was preparing dinner. While I was helping them shower, Mom came into the room to ask if they had had dinner yet. I told her I would be preparing dinner when I finished with them. We had leftover soup and fish and I made some tortellini as well. Mom chatted casually through dinner as though nothing had happened. I can't tell if she has forgotten her anger, has decided she has won her point, or has received a "dressing-down" on the phone from Adele or Ken.

Ari called during dinner wanting to discuss the previous night's meeting and I told him I would call back later. He had an interesting day as he had to sneak into his office through a garage entrance. There had been a bomb threat at the World Bank which is close by the building where he works near the White House. The authorities had closed off a three-block radius while they investigated for several hours, but he was able to get back in by accessing a garage that was just outside the closed off area. I had promised the girls a movie night after dinner which meant curling up with me in my bed to watch The Jetson's movie I had recorded for them on TiVo. Then, I sent them to their room and read them another chapter of Samantha. Sami called Alex on her cell phone and found out that Jessica had bought a new car, a hybrid Mazda. I will get more details today, I am sure. Izzy spoke with him, also. By the time I finished tucking them in at 8:30 p.m., I was too tired to clean up the dishes, too tired to finish the brisket, and too tired to call Ari back. When Saul returned at 10 p.m., I awoke briefly, we spoke a few words, and I fell back asleep.

It is 5:30 a.m. and now that my blog is finished I will try to go back to bed for two hours. Then, I hope to clean up the kitchen and finish the brisket. After that, who knows?