Mom and The Progressive--but Not Death Row

Thursday, May 19, 2011 

Dear Suzy and Kathy,

            My visit with Mom today was briefer than most, but that was partly because she didn’t want to disturb the sleeping and partly because she had a new issue of the Progressive!

            I got there at 12:45, and Olga told me Mom had already eaten—well—and was probably in the bathroom.  But I found her on her bed reading “The New Assault on Abortion Rights” and with Doris on Kay’s bed and Kay in her own chair eating her plate full of salad, which she, pretty much dozing,  held the full 40 minutes I was with Mom.  (I tried gently to rescue it from its slope, but she wasn’t dozing THAT much.)

            I’d had trouble staying awake on the freeway, so when I found them all in the siesta mode, I lay down beside Mom, who told me to sit in a chair properly, as she (Kay) would want me to.  So I did. 

            I noticed that Mother had taken out the insert of a card we’d sent to Kay on her birthday and written within the card itself her apology for “the trouble I’ve caused all!”  She’d signed it “Sincerely, Nadine,” and then “Love to all, Nadine.”  When I complimented her on her beautiful handwriting (it really is beautiful) and asked what trouble she’d caused all, she asked to have the card so she could clarify.  I think that’s when she wrote “Left the light on to read the Bible!”  Hmm.  That’s not what I found her reading. 

            Anyway, she politely asked me how everything was going, and I told her it was the last week of school, and then she said that this was a really good article and started reading aloud about the new assault on abortion rights.  She made comments from time to time to help me feel included.  “Try to think back on Idaho,” she said, when the article mentioned some regressive legislation in neighboring South Dakota.  “It’s as if Obama has lost all control.” 

            So, she was very astute.  When the article referred to Twitter

            “Do your kids know what that is?” 

            I told her my students probably knew better than their teachers if I was any indication. 

            Then after she finished the article, I gave her some cookies for her and Doris and Kay when she woke up beyond the plate-gripping stage, but Mom said, “No, Honey.  Take them home.  They’re too dangerous.  They’re old.” 

            I told her that they were fresh, and then I realized she meant the people, Doris and Kay and the others.  So I took them (the cookies) home.  I may bring fruit next time.

            Mom said, “The next article is about Death Row, but I don’t feel up to that.” 

            Then she told me sweetly, “Thanks for stopping by,” and I figured it was time to go, so I told her that Javier and I would be by on Saturday—probably late afternoon before a friend’s 60^th birthday party.

            I’m glad all the visits in the past two weeks have been good ones! 

            Love, 

            Tina

PS  She didn’t have her teeth in, but I assumed that was because she didn’t want them in rather than because they were lost.  I didn’t look though.