Saturday, January 22, 2011

Helpful

My 90 year old Mom is very helpful. She is so helpful that she drives me crazy. Whenever I am cooking, she comes into the kitchen and cleans up after me. What is wrong with that, you might ask. Well, let's say I am stirring something on the stove and I temporarily set the spoon down. When I reach for it again, it is gone, She has picked it up, washed it and put it away in a place it doesn't belong, so that you can't find it again. Or perhaps I am chopping vegetables and I have several of them on the counter. When I turn around, they are gone along with the knife.
"What happened to my carrots," I ask.
 "Oh I put them away." replies my Mom.
She throws away the paper towel I am using and carries off my dish towel. If not actively engaged in cleaning up after me, she stands in front of the pantry door waiting to jump in and help.

She often straightens up around the house. Don't leave anything out if you want to find it again. She puts things away and then doesn't remember where she put them. I might find my glasses in the pantry, or my book in her room. Speaking of books, I don't have to be concerned with finding books for her to read. She reads the same book over and over. She stacks about three of them next to her on the couch and reads from one or the other. Have you ever read a book that you didn't want to end? My Mom has that problem solved. Her books never end. A dream come true--the perpetual novel.

We had some cold weather recently and I wasn't prepared. I still had a plant on the porch that was too big to bring in. I grabbed the closest thing, an old insulated jacket and threw it over the plant with a large bath towel over that. Next thing you know, my Mom has brought the towel in the house.
"I found this on the porch," she says.
 "Is that my jacket out there?"
"No Mom, it is an old paint stained jacket of Dad's. It is covering my plant. I would never put your     jacket on the porch."
This morning it was very cold. When I went downstairs I found the old jacket on the back of a chair. Mom had thoughtfully brought it in last night. I don't have the heart to go look at the plant.

2 comments:

Roberta Warshaw said...

A lovely post.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous photo! Well written story.