HOLDING OUR BREATH, BUT EVER HOPEFUL

Moving Day for Mom started out pretty much as we expected - with her taking to her bed. Dealing with seeing her stuff dismantled and loaded onto the U-Haul was just more than she could take. Luckily, she came to in the nick of time, before we had to carry the bed out to the truck, with her on it. We left her there at my sister's house, in the tender hands of her sweet caretaker Tere, and headed over to unload enough crap to fill an entire house, at her tiny new assisted living apartment.

One thing I do have to give Mom credit for, is having bought good furniture that has stood the test of time. It just about killed my poor brother and brother-in-law trying to get it all in and arranged (we're all so far past the DIY moving age) but when they did, it started to come together. Once the big pieces were more or less in place, and the bed made up with her new sheets and comforter, we went to fetch her and see what she thought.

Knowing the old gal as well as we do, we knew exactly which buttons to push in order to get the most positive reaction. Quite a few residents had been hanging out in the lobby as we trailed past with load after load of her belongings, and several times they had commented over different pieces of furniture. When we told Mom how "everyone just loved her beautiful furniture" she positively glowed. We also mentioned that apparently she has the most coveted spot in the whole building, being on the ground floor, and closest to the lobby and mailboxes. It seems that many of the current residents had tried to nab it when it came available, but management wouldn't give it to them, since that would mean the expense of having two apartments cleaned and painted, so Mom hit the jackpot as far as location goes. We also met a fellow, much younger than most of the residents, but who is vision impaired and in a wheelchair. He was a trumpet player in a previous life. So we mentioned to Mom that a "famous musician" lived there, and had left one of his CD's just for her! The stage was set.

She walked in, sat down on the sofa... and smiled! She went out to dinner with us at one of her favorite restaurants, which is just down the street...and laughed! She came back to her place, listened as we explained that we would be back the next day after breakfast to finish unpacking boxes and hang her pictures, etc., and that one of the aides would be in the next morning to show her to the dining room for breakfast. She said "You girls need to get on home. You've had a long day. Just make sure I have a nice housecoat laid out for in the morning. Bye!" And that was that. Not one tear, nor even a single phone call during the night.

It's a miracle!