I mentioned on facebook that I'm with my parents 3 or 4 days a week after my dad took a fall and was laid up in hospital. He's now on the mend and after a couple of weeks of this I think that I'm the one who needs help, not my 80something parents.
It started a few days ago when it got pretty warm out and a lot warmer in the house. As I said on facebook it reminded me of that Seinfeld episode when Jerry and Elaine were visiting Jerrys' parents in Florida. No matter how hot it got the air conditioning wasn't going to be put on. I was sitting in the living room watching a repeat of Deal or No Deal with my dad (he had the remote...I have no say in what's watched) and I was sweating. Literally sweating. Little beads of sweat rolling down my nose. Can we turn the air conditioning on?......NO. Okay, let's just open a window and get some air in here. NO...you open a window...you let all the heat out. That would be the idea wouldn't it? I was out voted.
When I first came down here I thought because of age and injury I'd be the alpha dog. It didn't take long for me to figure out my dad wasn't about to abdicate that position. Okay...beta dog. I'll settle for no. 2. I wasn't anticipating my mother being as territorial as she is. So I'm the gamma dog although I think if their pooch was still around I'd be demoted to delta dog.
The toughest thing to do is pass time. I know they need certain things every day so I get a list first thing in the morning and spread them out. It lets me get out of this suburban sauna every couple of hours.
There is not a single wine glass in this house. I'll have a glass or 2 in the evening, in a juice glass, to pass the time although as time goes by I'm upping the daily dosage. My mom says.."what are drinking wine for...if your so hot all the time and you want a drink..drink ice water...it's better for you". And that's true if all you wanted to do was get cool. The idea of the wine is to get numb.
I pass time in the evening on the phone talking with friends. Mom says..."why are you always on the phone...you spend too much time on the phone...are those all long distant calls...who's paying for them? I just say "yes mom...and I'm paying for them". What I don't tell her is that I need to get out of living room and into a quiet space otherwise I spend the evening listening to the 2 of them tell me totally different stories at the same time about people I don't know with the television (oh,.,Deal or No Deal again)...cranked up to the decibel level of a Rage Against The Machine concert.
Listen...I love them dealry. I'd do anything for them. But I'm starting to understand what my mother meant when she would tell my brother and I that we drove her crazy when were were kids. Touche' mom.
p.s. They finally turned the a/c on. I think I'll pour a glass of wine and phone a friend.
Dude, are you SURE you did not go to Thorold and to MY parents home?
Hey...I'm just a couple of klics away....want me to drop in? Did you go to school in Thorold?
Too funny!
Too true!
Rick - No, I was born and raised in Toronto, but when my folks retired, they moved to a little town outside Fort Erie called Ridgeway. They spent a lot of time in the US so it was convienent, and they moved into a townhouse in Thorold when travelling and health became an issue.
That is absolutely hilarious Rick! I can just picture it. Good one!
Debs, your picture is my reality. Help!
Add some hearing aids, and you have my parents. I'm going to my parents' tomorrow to clean some chandliers for my mom. I'm going to have to hear from my dad how I am a freeloader because I'll be there for lunch. I sympathize.
Arlene...I swear I watched Deal or No Deal 3 more time today and that was followed by an All In The Family marathon at full blast while they talked and couldn't understand why I kept saying...
...pardon me...
Good luck tomorrow.