Today I made my Christmas list out.  I don’t have a lot of money to spend, so I thought I would give away things of mine that mean something to me and have a little story behind them  for special friends and family.

I have a special box with little things in it…things like menus of restaurants that my friends and I went to, or matchbook covers from a bar that we had a good time in. I have books, and just a box full of trinkets that make me smile…a chipped tea cup from my grandmothers house, an old favorite earring of my mothers, silly things, but things that have a story. I told Missy that I wanted to box them up pretty and write down what their story was.

Missy frowned at me and said, “Oh mommy…those are your memories, your special things, they will never mean as much to someone else because they are your memories of your friends and your good times.” I thought about that and thought she was right…who would want my old matchbook covers or little handkerchiefs? It’s really not the item, it’s all the memories that go along with it.

That’s why I hate Alzheimer’s…its a disease that makes a person just a being…when you take away their stories, their memories…their joy of remembering….you just have the shell of that person. Read more…

My mom never ceases to amaze me. Today we spent most of the day at the hospital. She had to have a large cyst removed from her chest area, plus after our fall yesterday, I wanted her to be checked out.

The doctor told me after he finished her procedure that he never had enjoyed a patient more than her. I was so proud of her, she never made a sound, he had to cut her 3 different times, and she only squeezed my hand. He told her she was something else…and she loved every minute of all the attention.

Mom never misses anything, even though she is hard of hearing and blind in one eye, she sees more and hears more than most of us. While we were waiting for her procedure, she heard one of the nurses talking about another nurse being in a bad mood, she said that the nurse had assisted on a patient who they had lost earlier that morning, and was having a bad day.

That nurse was our nurse, she came in and prepped mom and got the tray ready for the doctor, she was very quiet. When she was almost done and standing by mom, mom reached over and patted her arm. Read more…