The last few weeks have been difficult, and this is partly the reason for a gap in posts. Mom has suddenly lost much of the vision in her “good” eye and is understandably fearful of what is to come. Certainly life is more complicated now. She can’t read her bills, write her checks, dial a phone number, prepare her or Dad’s medicines–can’t even read instructions on microwave foods or recipes from her favorite collection, or enjoy the variety of birds and flowers in the backyard garden she so adores. There is some hope that her vision will improve, although my impression is that the odds are not good.
I’ve bought her a talking watch, a desk magnifier with a built-in light, and we’ll soon be getting an voice-dialer for the telephone. Audio books will have to satisfy her love of reading. But nothing will replace being able to see the faces of her husband and surviving son, or the photos of those loved ones lost to time.
So, this crime of old age, whose thievery has recently taken her first-born son, her husband’s mind, and now a selection of her few and favored small enjoyments from her days, continues on.
But she is a remarkably strong person, more than I had ever suspected. May the same be said of me one day. I admire her so.