Sunday, July 20, 2008

Last Sunday I took Mom to the Strawberry Festival on Vashon Island. What she really wanted to do there was have me drive by my brother's house on the island. She desperately wants to be invited over by my brother, but that is not going to happen. He doesn't really want her there and his wife definitely does not want her there. I had very mixed feelings about driving her by the house but I did it just so she would stop talking about it. She liked seeing the little barn that my brother built for his daughter's horses, Reba and Buddy.

After that we drove back to the area where the festival was happening and found a parking place nearby. I put Mom in the wheelchair and then rolled her down the street to see the various booths. She was pretty hungry, so I rolled her off the main road to get to a local restaurant. She got pretty agitated when I took us off the main road, but I did it so that we would have a clearer path to the restaurant without having to dodge in and out of the crowd.

Luckily, the restaurant had a wheelchair ramp, so I managed to roll us up to the door...then hold the door while I rolled Mom into the restaurant. I got us situated at a table and then went to the bathroom. By this time, I was pretty hot and sweaty from being outside rolling my own body weight around in a wheelchair...meaning Mom. We ordered lunch and sat quietly eating. Mom got sick again and I jumped up to hold the napkin while she vomited part of her lunch into it. I got her cleaned up, and then paid the bill.

Afterwards, I took her back to the street fair where we watched a parade of classic automobiles. I loved that...and she seemed ok sitting in the sun at that point. After the show was over, I rolled her down the street again so she could get a strawberry shortcake. She was ready to go after that....so we headed back to the ferry. She seemed to enjoy the outing but was totally exhausted by the time I got her home. Our little adventure lasted from 8:30am until about 3:30pm. I was pretty wiped out as well...but she really needed to get out of her apartment.

Today, I will pick up a few groceries for Mom and head over there about noon to make her some lunch. She seems to comment a lot on how exhausted she feels....some of it is physical and some of it is emotional. I took her photos of her and my Dad on a cruise they took in 1987. That seemed to cheer her up.