Speak! Speak!

 At my last visit to the clinic I had an ultrasound examination of my leg, and after it was over, I sat up on the examination table and finished wiped off the gel and cried, and the ultrasound guy patted me on the shoulder and said It is going to be OK. Don't worry. Not a Doctor Bob came in and gave me a hug and said You are going to be fine. Don't worry....

And then he proceeded to give Richard a series of specific instructions on what the signs of stroke are so that he could get me to the hospital if I showed any of them.

Not a Doctor Bob told him to "get her to the hospital" if

• she sticks her tongue out at you in the morning when she gets up and it is off to one side...
• if one side of her face looks droopy...
• if she has trouble talking....
• if she has trouble moving one side of her body...

So far none of those things have happened, except the part about having trouble talking.

I often have difficulty speaking, especially when I am trying to say three things at once and it comes out garbled. I was trying to tell him something the other morning and wasn't getting very far, and he began waving his arms and with a foreign accent he said...

"Speakl! Speak! Words come out mouth"

And then he stuck his tongue out at me, and of course it was off to one side.

A surprise for Mother’s Day

I am not expecting flowers for Mother’s Day, and that’s OK, because I have some spectacular flowers that have appeared just in time for the occasion.

In November 2012 my dearly beloved bought me an orchid. I don’t remember now what the occasion was. It could have been a belated birthday present or it could have been simply because he loves me and knew I wanted an orchid.

The blooms lasted a long time, but eventually they died and dropped off the stalk. I trimmed the stalk back, and began taking care of the plant as best I could by trying to follow the information I found on the Internet.

And the plant just mostly sat there for 2-1/2 years. A new leaf would appear occasionally, and an older leaf would shrivel and drop off, but that’s about it. Richard said if it were him, he would have given up a long time ago and tossed the plant.


I am very glad that I persevered and did not give up. About a month ago I noticed that the plant was starting to send out something that did not look like the air roots (or whatever they are) that stick up out of the potting mix.
Could this be a bud stalk? I began to get rather excited.

And then I noticed little buds were forming on the stock, and then and got really excited…. and then…. and then… within the last week…

We aren't going out for dinner tomorrow. Instead, I am making one of my favorite meals, which  I cook in the crock pot. It starts with a layer of potatoes cut in quarters, on top of that goes an onion cut in quarters, and on top of that a bell pepper cut in quarters. Italian sausage is placed on top of the vegetables, and tomato sauce is poured over with Italian spices and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Mother's Day can be a minefield for someone whose mother has died and whose child has died. But enough time has passed that I can enjoy the day without falling apart. So tomorrow I will celebrate the life of my wonderful Mother, who was a wonderful example of how to be a mother, and will reflect on the years that I had the privilege of being a mother myself, and most of all, will celebrate my husband who was kind to give me a gift that has kept on giving.