Today’s gem of the day was Mom yelling out, “There’s a fire in the basement!” Without considering the source, panic set in. She was sitting at the dining room table eating her cereal and I was in the sunroom with my SAD light on. Then she made that exclamation and I jumped up LIKE THE HOUSE WAS ON FIRE. Heh. We’ve never had a fire (knock on wood) but I know it’s nothing to fool with. I don’t want to be the person whose house burns down at Christmastime OR EVER. We see it on the news so often this time of year but really all year round. I ran to my mom and said, “What are you talking about?” and she pulled back the curtain on the window to reveal “smoke” coming from under the window. Again she said, “The basement’s on fire!” Before my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she was the most trusted authority on if something wasn’t right. She used to have the best “smeller” and could smell anything that most others couldn’t. I inheired this super smeller but I’m sure mine isn’t what it used to be either. So at one time if she said there was a fire, I would’ve believed her and gone down to investigate. This time I knew exactly what the “smoke” was from. Our forced air gas furnace vents out the side of the house. OMG. I could never forget that since over 10 years ago the next door neighbor kids were playing between the houses and stuffed both pipes (intake and outtake) with snow! The furnace quit entirely and we were freezing to death. Hubby cleaned it out and when he told the next door neighbor what her boys had done, of course she denied it. “They wouldn’t do that.” She also said the same thing when confronted with her boys poking our previous dogs with sticks through the fence! Anyway, I told Mom that’s what it was and that there was more than usual of the exhaust coming out because it was extra cold today. Temps overnight were around zero with windchills of 15 below zero. She seemed to be satisfied with my explanation but it made me do a double take. Luckily, it really didn’t upset me. I’m trying to find the humor in the situation since I’ve been far too serious most of my life. Now that I’m faced with her gravely serious diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, I need to laugh more than ever before. So I try to find humor in everything I can. That’s why one of my favorite sayings is “We’d get along like a house on fire.” I’m ablaze for you. 😉
Back on Sept. 11, 2001 when Mom still had most of her faculties, she was the one who came into our bedroom while we were still in bed (sleeping) that “They’re flying planes into buildings!” She used to lie in bed in the mornings if she woke up before us and listen to radio. She had heard a news report and got scared. We thought she was out of her mind. Another incident around that time had her coming to us saying there had been a “pterodactyl” on the deck. That it was 4 feet high and just huge. That it was taking fish out of our koi pond. We had NO idea what she was talking about. Shortly after that, I saw with my own eyes the pterodactyl! It was a heron. I could understand her thinking it was something prehistoric because it was enormous and not something I’d seen up close before.
I completely agree with you! I have been blogging since 2006, so I’ve said a lot, but there is so much more to say! I have friends who’ve deleted their blogs after they were done with them, and it upsets me. I might be done with my very first original blog, but I couldn’t delete it! I need to send it to be printed so that it is preserved in some form other than online. It tells so much of our story in Turkey! My kids and grandkids will enjoy reading it someday!
I can’t imagine someone deleting a blog that they poured their heart and soul into. I can see them wanting to make it private or not add to it but destroy all that time and effort?! That makes no sense!
Yes, you should definitely get your blog bound into a book. It has to be fun for you to read them again & relive everything over again. Your kids & grandkids will cherish your words, Natalie! 🙂
You are a woman after my own heart! After years of encouraging my mum to break the silence about her life stories, she finally let me into a world that affected me. Understanding her deepened Our friendship and allowed her to see how amazing she was. So now I feel I have a duty to write her stories so they can be handed down to future generations. She lived a remarkable life that deserves to be told.
I bet your mum has also lived a life worth writing about. I hope you get to write what you know about her. I too love to read about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people – and every life is extraordinary. I’d love to read both your mum’s and your stories. There, that’s a new project for you to do in the New Year (as if you haven’t got enough to do).
I just knew we were kindred spirits! 🙂 That is indeed a project for the New Year. I may have to write down what I remember from her early life just so it doesn’t leave me entirely. Both our mothers seem exceptionally strong willed! When I think of it, people in general were probably more determined and stubborn in past generations than today–just by necessity.
I’m looking forward to reading more about your life and your mother’s. Connecting with you, Tez, has brought me utter delight! Remind me to thank the Internet for bringing me such a wonderful friend a world away. 😉
I agree, that’d be an awesome way to honour someone’s memory. Glad there wasn’t a fire in the basement 😉 big hugs!
Thanks, Jess! 🙂