MaineCourse

Stew

Last night wind rattled the blinds covering wide open windows, and then the sky lit and the thunder clapped and by gosh if we didn’t have an old- fashioned midwestern storm. However, it didn’t last long, not even waiting for me to fall asleep. This morning the air is damp and much cooler, but I still have plans to move Helen outside for a spell, as was suggested by her visiting physical therapist.

I have been pretty darn helpful, if I don’t say so myself. So far I have helped my father fix the driver’s side window on my truck and I’ve helped him change the front brake pads. I had to change the oil myself as my creaky body creaks less than his in the slide-under-the-truck way.

Last night, armed with a box of Chicken Thyme Soup and directions from Diane, I proceeded to create this healthy and way-hearty soup Diane made here on our last visit. I started with one pot, began adding what the recipe called for, plus what Diane suggested I toss in - more chicken and more vegetables - but ran out of room. I grabbed a bigger pot, poured everything into it from the smaller one, added more of what I had cutup, but ran out of room again. If there were a bigger pot, I’da grabbed it, but there was not. For dinner we had delicious Chicken Thyme Stew, and afterwards Tupperwared about a week’s worth. That is, if we have it every day.

I do miss Diane.

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Yesterday

Helen leads off:

“My grandmother hung on so long because she was afraid to die. She was in the nursing home for ten years and the gals there knew her very well. Anyone else wouldn’t have lasted so long, but they said she was afraid to go. That’s the thing with Joan, she thinks I can move in with her; she doesn’t know how much is involved. My father’s sister had pernicious anemia, and his father died in our house. I know what it’s like to care for people, Joan doesn’t.”

“Here is the way I see it. Joan doesn’t have a thing to worry about because I don’t see you hanging around.”

“Neither do I.”

“It is so obvious. You’re just waiting for the opportunity to see what is next. You get this cold or whatever it was and it’s check out time. Your not eating is the same as packing your luggage.”

We are both laughing pretty hard at this. Helen thinks I’m funny or finds my laugher infectious, or she is laughing along with me and plotting ways to cut me out of her will. Could be any of the above.

“This is why I’ve put you in charge of me at the end.”

“I’m your health care proxy?’

“Yes. I know you’ve worked with dying people before and I know you ... .”

“You mean you sat down and thought which one of my kids do I want to consign a lifetime of torment to? ‘Gee, I really thought she was dead, but now that I said pull the plug, I do remember a twitch..oh, dear god, I killed my mother!’

**************
Today

It is only noon and already we have had a full day. The cable guy installed broadband, the visiting nurse popped in to give Helen a quick checkup, and I called a plumber to fix the clogged sink drain. We are having lunch, right before departing to visit the dentist to have Helen’s crown re-glued.

HO. “My blood pressure is good today.”

Mack. “Good for what?”

Me. “Good to keep her alive another day.”

HO. “ I won’t be joining Terri Schiavo today.”

Me. “If my prayers are answered you’ll die the same day as Paul Wolfowitz, and you’ll ride his soul for all eternity.”

HO. “Who?”

“Wolfowitz. Or Cheney or Pearl or Bush or Powell. Pick anyone of them. If you don’t go on the same day you might never find them.”

“Oooo, I’d love that. I’d ride ‘em.”

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I fondly remember such thunderstorms......

I know there are times your trip must be a big confront and wear on you, and that your appreciation of reawakened distinctions, tinged with nostalgia, is fully adult and quite alloyed, but I still get flashes from your prose that if "Rose is Rose" fantasies were played out in real life, a 5-year-old Mikey would occasionally be seen scampering about Evansville.

Posted by ex-Midwesterner.

Damn but y'all have the liveliest, least repressed conversations!!! Thanks for letting us eavesdrop! Ride 'em hard, HO (but none too soon, thanks)!

Posted by adam.

Great Blog. Mainly, I saw the words "I do miss Diane" when I opened the site, so my admiration for the rest is colored by my happiness to feel that sentiment. (Unless he meant, he missed me because of my talent for boxed soup.)

Posted by Diane.

Diane, I thought he missed you because he wanted one more person to help eat the soup.

Mike, you better cancel with Brenda. This real conversation is the best. (Both meanings intended.)

Posted by jennifer.

Mike, I think you've foung your next calling...

Hospice Worker!

Wolfowitz was interviewed by Jim Lehrer last night. Came across like a inteligent, caring, reasonable man. Wonder what the media would turn you into, Mike, given an opening, and whether we'd say right on , or be revulsed?

Posted by smiling.

Posted by Michael at March 31, 2005 07:46 AM