Chocolate therapy

Momma sits on the “potty” scratching her fat little belly.  So I poke it.  She looks up at me with a “was that necessary?” look.  I then pull up my shirt and show her my fat little belly and poke it.  “See, I’ve got one, too.” 

My Wii Fit tells me I’m overweight.  Tell me something I don’t know. I am part of what is known as the “sandwich” generation.  We take care of our family and elders at the same time.  Apparently I am the cheese and mayo part of the sandwich and not the lean turkey.  Oh well.

The Robin Williams story has brought media attention to Lewy Body.  While a good thing, it makes no difference to those of us who are well versed in the subject.  We know to take each day as it comes.  Some good and some bad and some downright terrible.  I admit freely that after a particularly trying day with Momma I usually resort to something sweet and a big glass of milk.  Today’s choice is a Hershey’s chocolate brownie, warmed up with ice cream on the side.

I yell to my daugher, “Do me a favor. When I get old, do NOT poke my fat belly, okay?” 

“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” – Robert Frost

 

A Normal Day

Okay, so nothing to report these last few days.  They have been… normal.  Normal?  Is that even a word I can define since falling into the chaotic world of Lewy Body Dementia?

There is a group the media has dubbed the “Sandwich Generation” – those caught in the middle, caring for our own families and our aging parents. I’m a little past that in age.  My children are grown and the youngest is soon to be married and out of the house.  But we did start our own business 2 years ago and I now work more than I used to “outside the home”.  Sometimes I feel that constant pull from both sides. Remember the Gumby character on Saturday Night Live? Being stretchy, he could be pulled in all directions. So as I stand in my driveway, the pull of two opposing forces totally incapacitates my mind and body. In one direction my mom needs help with the simplest of tasks every day.  In the other is a wedding to plan, a business to attend to and volunteer opportunities. Either way, bouncing back and forth between the two, I feel I should be in the other place!  Oh, I know . . . I need some type of “Matrix” thing where I appear in two places at once!  That would be the best selling thing on the market!

On a warm Monday morning, I stumble out of bed and examine my calendar for the week. My car needs to be serviced. Then there is the grocery run because we are out of essentials (like cereal, which my family is forced to eat on the many nights I can’t manage to cook), Then there is the bi-weekly Chiropractic adjustment, getting accounting stuff straightened out, meeting with the caterer and florist, return phone calls to potential clients, send letters to potential clients, schedule jobs with current clients…and the most important item of the day. . . checking on Mom next door because she doesn’t remember to EVER get up and go to the restroom on her own. And it is just Monday! During these hectic times I ask myself the questions of the day: “If a bus hit me this morning, would everyone be okay?  Would it all get done?  Would people rise to the occasion and take care of themselves?”  The answer? Of course they would!!   I REALLY need to get a grip on my self-importance and realize that God is in control where I am not! So to put it all in perspective and get these thoughts out of my brain, I decide to blog.  Although no one is probably reading, I find that sending my thoughts into cyberspace helps me keep sane.

Most importantly God helps me keep sane.  He keeps my perspective in check and reminds me what is truly important.

2 Corinthians 4: 17 – 18

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”