Mementos and Music

Any visit to Dad and Mom is always a treasured opportunity and I am blessed to be in Melba now with them. I arrived Monday night to find dinner waiting -- Mom had made spaghetti and strawberry fruit jello! No matter how she feels, she is always a mother and taking care of us! After dinner, she treated me to some beautiful organ music. It was so wonderful to hear her play so well and to know she now enjoys the gift of making music that she gave to all of us--all those lessons for piano and band/orchestra instruments and enduring years and years of us practicing and now she finally gets her turn. Her organ is so fun--if I wasn't here for a purpose, I'd be taking her up on her invitation to try it out. As it is, I did get to play a song or two.

We spent a bit of time looking for parts of Mom's life story that she had written over time so I could start putting it all together but got a bit sidetracked when we ran into Romney mementos -- George Romney, that is! George Romney, father of Mitt, was Dad and Mom's stake president in Michigan and they worked on his campaign when he ran for governor of Michigan. They still have scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings, pictures, campaign buttons and huge posters. It was SO FUN to see! I had to share a few pictures here:

Yesterday I went to her radiation treatment with her. They began radiating a third area, this one on her back near the second area. We spoke to a social worker for a bit after her treatment, then made a quick trip to see if we could find an adjustable base bed. After a quick look and some pricing help, we headed home as Mom's pain medication was wearing off.

Today has been a bit harder day. We went to radiation treatment again, but Mom's back has been hurting more and she has been quite dizzy. I made a major mistake and am in the doghouse with Dad now. We didn't record earlier, but after Mom's mammogram MRI a week or so ago, which caused her to lie in an excruciatingly painful position for 45 minutes, she walked out into the waiting room when done and Dad looked up, surprised, and said, "What? Done already?" Mom retorted, "Do you want to get hit?" To her, those 45 minutes were forever. Well, today she went back to her treatment and before I could even open my book to read, I looked up and there she was, all finished. I said, "That was fast!" and she said, "Just like Dad -- did you forget what I said to him?" Uh-oh, I had forgotten! To me it may have gone quickly, but every procedure is long and painful to Mom. Her back especially hurt as she was lying there today. We made it home okay and she did let me in the house, so we worked on LDS Journal a bit and got a few entries made. It is such a gift to me to be able to listen to Mom talk about her life and experiences.