Christmas Visit With Mom

  I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Never announce to the world in your new blog that your mother is an “octogenarian” the same week she is visiting you. Mom was not happy that I called her that and as she is here for Christmas she could tell me in person exactly what she thought. Oops. I only made it worse when I tried to explain that I had originally written it as my “ageing mother” but thought she wouldn’t like that nor would she be pleased if I had said “elderly” or even “senior”. Besides, I sort of thought that after a certain age it was a matter of pride to be in your 80’s. Not exactly.

Admittedly my mother is not your typical 80 year old grandmother. Yes she is a “church lady”, active in her church and can be found sitting in her pew every Sunday morning. But Sunday afternoons? She is glued to the TV watching the football games and checking to see how she is doing in the family football pool. And you wouldn’t believe where she can be found every Tuesday night. My little old mother has now become part of a weekly poker group at her complex! And she is good, too. (My father would be so proud of her as he taught her everything her knew.)

Plus I must admit that as I listen to my friends talk about their parents I realize how lucky I am. My best friend tells horror stories about her Mom. She once had to fly across the country just to take her mother for a colonoscopy! If that wasn’t bad enough, the night before the procedure her mother insisted that her daughter stand outside the bathroom door to keep her company when the purging stuff kicked in. Oh yuck. Another friend’s mother calls her every single day to complain. Then there was a friend who had to spend each weekend with her mother driving her around as her mother refused to drive any more. So I know I am lucky.

I mentioned that I was writing this blog to my Mom. Her immediate response was that she wanted to read it before I put it on the internet. That triggered old memories of having my mother check my homework at night and so I automatically said sure she can read it. But you know what? I’ve changed my mind. Mom will just have to wait like everyone else and read the posting on the internet. Sad, isn’t it? I’m middle ages and yet I still feel the need to occasionally rebel against my parent! But now I hear her yelling at some football announcer so I should go and rejoin her. Besides, I want to see what the scores are as she’s not the only one with some money riding on the games. OK I must admit there are few octogenarian mothers who during their Christmas visit with their middle aged daughter spend their time together watching football! Yeah, I know. {sigh} like mother, like daughter….

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