Mother's Day 2010

After church, Mark and Grace gave me gifts before we headed to Mason City to see my parents and Grandmother. It was purely coincidental that the denim jumper Grace was wearing and the fountain-like hairdo resembled the Precious Moments figurine Grace gave me which is called I Love You This Much. Just as I have done with all of my children, we play an "I love you" game where I ask them, "Do I love you this much?" and hold up my fingers an inch apart. "This much?" and increase the space, and finally "This much!" and throw my arms out wide. Grace loves to do this for Daddy and me, too, so the little figurine with her arms thrown wide open was a perfect gift. You can tell from the pictures that Grace liked showing me what the little porcelain doll was saying, too.

Mark gave me a gold, family necklace. He said that he looked and looked and finally found the setting he wanted in a supply catalog at the jeweler's, ordered the setting, and drew out how he wanted the stones placed. It is one-of-a-kind with a heart at the top and all of our birthstones in a swirl beneath. I have the most thoughtful husband in the world!

Then we headed to my parent's house with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken that we picked up in Lincoln. Between the chicken and mom's dessert we had a great lunch.

Grandma Wharram gets really disoriented and can only handle short excursions anymore. Ice cream at the Dairy Belle was fun until Grandma started wanting to walk home to the house down the street where she used to live. She started asking about Pawpaw and was noticeable upset when she found out he had been gone 20 years. I thought she was going to cry when she asked, "What happened to all of my things? Why didn't anybody tell me? Who got the money for the house? This is the first I have heard of it." Mom told her that she had just forgotten about how Grandma attended the sale, but her frustration just increased, so I tried my "change the focus with a toddler" routine on Grandma.

I told Grandma that we missed Pawpaw, too, and that all of her treasures were safe with us. I explained how she used to cook bacon and eggs for the boys when they would stay at her house, and how they remembered eating on her blue and white china with the little houses on them. I told her how Adam bought the china at the sale, and how excited he was to get it out of the attic to take to his new apartment. I told her that he thinks of her every time he eats on those plates. When we drove her back to the nursing home, and passed the house, she looked longingly at the home where she had lived for so much of her life.

Sometimes I think it is a good thing that we don't remember everything as we grow older because by the time we got back to the nursing home, she seemed to have forgotten the whole conversation.