Things Said To Me By My 90 Year Old Mother During My Five Day Visit To The Nursing Home, The List:

1.  “Your blouse is so colorful.  How do you always manage to find such loud clothing?”

2. “Let me see that picture of us again.  I look alright for 90, don’t I?”

babcia

3. “Our activity director is too talkative and just too friendly.”

4. “I was so surprised to see my grandson walking in to our dining hall with you, and the flowers he was bringing me were lovely, but you all made a scene.”

5. (While watching summer Olympics.) “Those women beach volleyball players are wearing practically nothing.  They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

6. “You can see the butt cheeks of those gymnasts.”

7. “Why do they give medals to people riding on horses?  They just sit there!  It’s the horses that do all the work.”

8. “Oh, since you have your phone out, let me see that picture of us again.”

9. “See that woman with the walker?  The one with the black pants with the pink stripe?  Sometimes she wears animal print pants!  And look at her toenails!  They are orange!  It’s crazy! She is too old for orange toenails.”

10.  “Fruit fluff?  That’s dessert?  I don’t know what that is, but it looks like it has red jello in it.”

11. “Let me see your bracelet.  Is it real gold?  Fourteen karat? ”  (It is.) “Your husband wouldn’t spend that kind of money on you.”

12. “Why did you take me to Target?  I don’t like Target.  Your sister likes Target. I have never liked Target.  WalMart is better.  I like WalMart.  Target had no slippers in extra-wide, but WalMart did.  Don’t ever take me to Target again.”

13. “Can you afford to take me out to lunch again?”

14. “How much was my cup of coffee?” ($1.89 at the diner.) “Why are they charging so much for coffee?”

15. “Let me see that picture of me again.”

 

 

 

Things That Make It Much Easier To Say Goodbye To College Boy This Year–His Second Year of University–Versus Saying Goodbye Last Year, The List:

pipmom

1. We didn’t have to break the bank by buying all those “starter” supplies for his dorm room. (Only new purchases: a floor lamp and a vacuum cleaner.  I suspect the former will be used more often than the latter.)

2. Boy didn’t flunk out his freshman year, so chances are good that he won’t flunk out his sophomore year.

3. Assuming number 2 holds true, we have only 3, not 4, years’ worth of tuition and room and board left to pay!

4. We know now that the water bill is 50 percent lower when he is gone.

5. We know now that the grocery bill is 50 percent lower when he is gone.

6. We know now that the noise level is 50 percent lower when he is gone.

7. We don’t have to have that awkward “Say No To Drugs/Practice Safe Sex” talk again.

8. He has proven that he can make new friends, so I know he won’t be sad and lonely.

9. Husband and I discovered that the Empty Nest is not so bad after all.  I know we won’t be sad and lonely.

 ̶1̶0̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶a̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶.̶

 

 

Things That Could Be Added to the Summer Olympics, The List:

In honor of today’s start of the Olympics in Brazil.  

Perhaps number 18 should be “mosquito swatting”?!

Flashback to dinner table conversation, July 29, 2012. The family agreed that badminton and table tennis were too silly to be Olympic events.

And this is the most “sporty” and “Brazil-like” photo I could find. (It’s Florida.)  (And all of us did go kayaking.)

kayaks

1. Paintball

2. Hopscotch

3. Competitive eating

4. Croquet

5. Hang-gliding

6. Poker

7. Dueling with wax bullets

8. Soapbox derby

9. Water-balloon toss

10. Three-legged race

11. Wheelbarrow race

12. Watermelon seed spitting

13. Bocce

14. Cornhole

15. Skeeball

16. Skateboarding

17. Four-square

Things That Motivate Needs-A-Real-Job-Now Daughter To Come Home on Summer Weekends, The List:

1. Her cozy bedroom is a calm respite from the cold, cruel world.

2. Her mom always supplies fresh linens and towels, just like a hotel.

3. Her mom will make fresh coffee in the morning, just like a hotel.

4. The WiFi is free, just like a hotel.

5. All the meals are cooked by someone else.

6. All the meals are free.

7. All the cocktails are free.

8. Visits to breweries and wineries are a strong possibility.  And it will be free, since her mom will pay.

9. Her mom is cleaning out closets and the basement, and certain childhood items have to be saved from the Goodwill pile. (Or the trash.)

10. Her loving and nurturing mom misses her terribly, so visiting her mom is the least she can do, while she still can.

madmom