My Mom had thought that all of her relatives were going to have to come visit her at her hotel room.
She didn't think that anyone had a house that could accomodate her wheelchair.
Her cousin Claudette assured her that it wouldn't being an issue coming over to her house and her cousing Mike promised to "drag her ass anywhere around that house."
So after getting ready this morning, it was off to Claudette's and I was really looking forward to it.
At lunch yesterday, Claudette proved to be what I would call a hoot. She had multiple lines that cracked me up. When asked how she was doing, she exclaimed "Fatandsassy" (as if it was all one word). While we were all drinking at the mexican restaurant, she said that if she had anymore to drink she "wouldn't be able to find her ass with both hands."
I can't even express how important it is to me to be able to laugh and have fun while we are dealing with my mom's prognosis. I would bet that a huge part of her being a great nurse is that sense of humor that she has on at all times (or at least the short amount of time that I've spent with her).
Before heading over to her place, we tried to stop by an Enterprise location to see about renting me a car so I could drive into Marceline tomorrow. I was so looking forward to visting the town that Main Street, USA was based on. Unfortunately, I hadn't called ahead and when we go to the office, it was closed for the Memorial Day holiday.
It looks like I might be out of luck.
We got back on the road and it was about twenty minutes before we arrived at Claudette's place. We weren't totally sure exactly where her place was even though my Mom new the general direction.
My Mom had me use her phone to call Claudette when it was apparent that we drive just a bit to far.
We turned back around and were heading down her street when we saw her husband, Jim, standing in the middle of the street a little over a block away to make sure we knew exactly where we needed to go.
Jim waved us into the driveway like a ground service agent at the airport bringing a plane into gate.
We got my Mom out of the car and into the wheelchair pretty quickly. It is never going to be pretty but I always imagine Jack and myself as a two-man NASCAR pit crew getting my Mom and her wheelchair ready for action.
Coming into Claudette and Jim's house, I think both Jack and I paused as we saw the situation. To get my Mom into the kitchen where lunch was being served, we were going to have to lift her up the three steps directly in front of us.
Jack and I both looked at Claudette as if to ask how we were going to do this.
Claudette seem to sense our discomfort with this and ordered us to pick her up and carry her up the stairs.
Jack to the lead in front of us and Claudette and I were working on the other side. It was awkward for me and my full weight came down on Claudette's foot (which I felt terrible about, especially since she told us about a problem with her foot that she had recently had. I don't know which is worse: steping on the good foot or the bad one???).
Claudette didn't yell out in pain. We were all focused on getting my Mom up the stairs.
But once we had her up the stairs, Claudette said that I "had just step on her foot and she was fixing to bust my ass."
It was truly said in the warmest way possible.
The kind of way that you only say to family.
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