M is for Misty Eyes

The past two days have flown by for Mom, compared to the long, draining days at the acute hospital, the days here at rehab are filled with activities that she looks forward to with eager anticipation. A combination of physical and occupational therapy, sometimes 1-on-1, sometimes in a group setting, and speech therapy are working wonders for our favorite Teacher of the Year.

Group therapy is a lot of fun; the people in the group have various levels of ability, but they share a common interest in improving their skills, and the therapists here create a positive atmosphere for everyone. Today, they played a game where they passed around a large ball, and every person who had the ball had to name a letter as well as animal whose name begins with that letter. E - Elephant, D - Dog, you get the idea. Mom enjoyed this activity, Dad said he could tell she was trying to get an animal for every single letter, you could see her brain working all over her face. Very cool.

Speech therapy is uncovering so many interesting things that we never realized. For example, we know Mom has been struggling with remembering numbers and months of the year. But what we understood today for the first time is that the month she skips, when saying them in succession, is that she always skips February. January..March..April..May. etc. But not February. Can you guess why? If you had the February she has just completed, would you want to erase it from memory? Things that make you go hmmmm.

Today's dinner choices were trout almondine or an egg salad sandwich. Neither are considered A-list meals by Mom. But she's a sport, she'll try the trout. Two bites of it, actually, and then pretty vehemently said things like "Why did they bring that?" "Why would anyone want that?" "I don't even want to look at that." Thank heavens for the steamed squash and zucchini, veggie beef soup with rice, and rice pilaf. Next time these main course are on the menu, we'll be bringing Mom a dinner from outside, thankyouverymuch.

Teary moments - the granddaughters were in Mom's room doing homework and playing on laptops with Jennifer. Mary Claire's assignment was to write sentences from her spelling words. She was working hard, pencil in hand, sun shining through the window like a halo behind her blonde hair, freckled nose wrinkled up with concentration, and looking like a student 6 years younger than Mom's kids at school...but very much reminding her of all of them. Mom got misty and commented how much she loves watching kids learn, and took a long moment to process those feelings and thoughts. So many hundreds of students are in those memories, lucky kids, all of them. I feel so lucky that my kids could do their homework with her today.

One thing that no one was looking forward was Sara's return to California yesterday. It was a long misty moment for all of us. What an incredible blessing it is to have sisters like her and Jennifer, who each packed up a small bag of clothes on February 10th and ran onto a plane within 5 hours of getting word that Mom was being hospitalized. They have been by Mom's side practically every minute of every day since, and they are perfect examples of understanding the big picture, and being courageous in their decisions and of doing the right thing. Big huge enormous props to Charles and Macklin, and Peter, too, for making it work. You are all awesome.