The Secret Garden

Friday, Maria was able to come and bathe Mom. She dressed her in a green outfit and attached the little Christmas tree pin to her sweater that I had pulled out a few days earlier and left on the dresser.

I don't remember a lot of details about Friday or Saturday, but Mom did do a lot of movie watching and napping.. Saturday night they had dinner at her sister's house. I remember that she was pretty antsy about getting ready to go over there early Saturday afternoon. She kept wanting to sleep, then get ready, then sleep.. She seemed pretty needy that afternoon.. I finally stalled some time by offering to help her put on lipstick and comb her hair and re-pin the Christmas tree pin to her sweater.

Sunday morning I got up early to stay with her while Dad attended choir rehearsal, the church service and caroling with his choir in the afternoon. Mom and I chilled in the morning, with the television and magazines, then I made her a small turkey and cheese sandwich, with a few chips and some tangerine slices. I begged her to finish the last two bites of the second quarter of the sandwich, and she claimed she "didn't like the cheese." I was feeling a bit ornery myself and I argued with her "oh, yes you do." "No I don't!" "Yes you do, now eat it!" "I DON'T LIKE THE CHEESE and I DON'T WANT TO EAT IT!"

Ugh. I messed up there. She got frumpy and we both got teary-eyed. I let it go, returned her lunch tray to the kitchen and we made up by admitting to each other that this is hard for both of us. Then I asked her what could we do to get us "out of this funk."

"Read to me?"

So, I found a book on her shelf, a beautiful copy of "The Secret Garden," by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Perfect. On Friday or Saturday, I think it was, I had read to her from a published local book Dad picked up. In the back of the book is a sermon that Mom had written and read at her church on Easter Sunday in April of 2006. It's called "The Inner Garden," and it talks about the relationship between gardens and your inner life... it also goes into the clues and steps that led her towards her journey of earning a landscape design certificate from Radcliff College and how much she loved her work as a landscape designer. She references "The Secret Garden" story.  It is all very beautiful and so very much a light on her passions in her life.

So, we began the lovely tale of the little abandoned Mary Lennox and her discovery of the secret garden at the giant manor on the moors in England. We are both loving it.

Finally, her friend from church arrived to stay with Mom until Dad got home so that I could go to my afternoon gig.

Except I ended up staying home. I was too emotionally drained, crying when I got home in the loving arms of my partner. He encouraged me to stay home if that's what would make me feel better, and I'm glad I did. I got more comfort from my kitties after he left, got something to eat, then walked back over a couple of hours later. Dad was home and Mom was still happily chatting away with their friend, who had a ball staying with Mom, reading to her and having tea. She offered to help in anyway, anytime she could. It was really nice.

Relieved, I went back home to my kitties and a few sappy Christmas movies, flopped on the couch and tried to emotionally regroup.

Monday afternoon I zipped over around two in the afternoon, after finally getting a chance to do a little Christmas present and food shopping. I shut the television off and read to her for almost two hours from
"The Secret Garden." Dad was able to nap, take a short walk, bring in firewood and do some computer stuff. Mom and I are really enjoying the book, and I can't wait to get back to it when I go over later today.