It’s been coming for a while…
We’ve known it, hell, I feel like I’ve been shouting it for a few years only to have it fall on deaf ears.
Mom just can’t live alone anymore; our nerves can’t take it.
The tipping point came a few days ago…
Mom was “loose in the wild” while I slept.
She woke up at 11 pm. Her tongue hurt so she called the hospital and asked what to do. Through a series of “let’s just be sure” bureaucratic choices, she ended up in the ER. They could find nothing wrong and by 1 AM she had had enough.
She couldn’t remember my phone number and for some reason they couldn’t find it. When they did, she wouldn’t let them call me because it was 1 am.
So they called her a cab and she went home.
I cannot tell you the terror that just went through my system as I wrote that. She’s 97.
She’s 97 with a credit card, so she paid for her cab.
The thing is, she’s fine. She got herself to the hospital and back on her own. This woman is, blind and in a wheelchair and there were people to help her. But oh my god, I just can’t.
So, I called my brother and we agreed that it’s really time to get this settled.
And no, that doesn’t mean putting mom in a nursing home. She doesn’t want that, her brain still works, and we have promised her that we won’t. She has a home, she has pets and she is comfortable there. That said, she’s nervous to be on her own, she’s bored and she’s lonely.
But, back to the part we’ve agreed to. It’s time for us to move closer to Mom.
I’ve looked for a place that is in her neighborhood off and on for the last few years. The places I’ve found just won’t work and I haven’t gotten very far. There have been a lot of “no’s”
But now serendipity has brought us to this point. A seed was planted by a cousin a few months ago when we were talking about the moment that is now upon us. He said “why don’t you just put a camper on her lot?”
Mom’s house is small and the three of us and our collective 5 cats, 4 dogs, 7 birds and assorted fish would not fit together. However, the house is on a large lot. It’s three quarters of an acre and her 1200 square foot home is situated on a corner of it. There’s plenty of room for a 5th wheel trailer or…
(cue disastrous music)
…A Tiny Home
And down the rabbit hole we go…
It’s time to begin the adventure and we know this is the right move.
I mentioned synchronicity. When my brother Don and I had “the conversation” about Mom, I mentioned our cousin’s idea. I’d expanded it to Tiny Homes and it just so happened that Don had been researching them. As we were speaking, his contractor’s mind moved to the electric panel in mom’s house; it would need replacing. He’d already been researching zoning laws here but needed more information from the mortgage company.
Scott and I have a business to move and we’ve got to figure out how to majorly downsize.
See? Rabbit hole.
And a situation rich with Spiritual lessons and opportunities.
I’ve said to Spirit that I want my final act to be my greatest creation, that I have big goals and dreams and I want to make them happen.
And while I just ran straight into a rabbit hole, it’s one of my choosing. It’s the next step that will lay the foundation. I can see the path that is laid out from here, if only I am brave enough, bold enough and communicative enough to ask for what I want. And to CREATE what I desire.
So yep, I’m ready. And of course, dear reader, you get to come along with me. Because anything rich with Spiritual lessons and opportunities is also fertile ground for a writer. There is SO MUCH already, so many emotions, so many choices
I always say ‘when choosing your direction, follow the yesses until you hit a no, then course correct”
Here we go y’all…let’s go find some yesses!