Passing the Time
Wed., May 27, 11:33 AM
I imagine that this is pretty boring. I just feel as if my week has been cut off.
In a way, you could say I’m just spoiled. For the past four months — ever since Husband was hospitalized last — he has been going to day care five days a week. Sure, I have to be here when he leaves and again when he comes home, and there may be only five or six hours when I am “free.” But during those five hours, I can plan to be outdoors or shopping or maybe, just maybe, seeing friends with whom I cannot socialize when I have him on my conscience. It took leaving him in respite care just to get a chance to spend an afternoon with my niece and her family.
Day care does not operate on holidays, either Jewish or secular ones. I can’t fault them for that. Families may be planning events that include their seniors, and the staff deserves time off as well. Monday was Memorial Day, and Husband stayed home. Friday is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people. He will be home again. My five days are reduced to three, at a time when I am not able to do all the running around I would like without at least a day before and after.
Rather than waste a day at the supermarket, I did an on-line order with Peapod. Someone else did the walking around the warehouse; someone else carried all the stuff in, including all the perishables that have to come upstairs immediately. All I had to do was put things away. Even though this costs me more rather than less, it is definitely a case of concentrating on “what I need rather than what I want.”
This morning I had an appointment for a bone density scan. (Told Husband twice that I had a doctor’s appointment as soon as he left; all he knew was that I had upset him by making him wear a coat because he didn’t believe it was cold. In his room, of course, it was not.) After handing him over to the attendant (with a caveat about his cranky mood), I got myself out of there. How fortunate that I no longer have to drive into New Haven and search for parking. An osteoporosis van comes to the nearest doctor’s office every month. I was done by ten o’clock.
Mentally I went through a few options; I didn’t want to waste being out of the house. I don’t need the supermarket, because it came to me. Costco is kind of far. But Sam’s? Sam’s is signficantly closer; it doesn’t carry as much that I need, but it does have a few things I can use, including one or two items that are not available elsewhere. Maybe I could get something for Gloria’s birthday package. (I did, but not all I would want.) I was in and out in about half an hour, and came straight home. If I feel up to it, I will try the drugstore tomorrow. If not, maybe U.D. will be home by Friday, and she can babysit.
I am, nevertheless, heartened by this week, as I secured Husband in for a couple of hours on Monday to have breakfast with my sister, my daughter-in-law and my son, and the ever-beautiful Lila. She is at the age where she’s curious about everything and laughs a lot. My daughter-in-law is in Paris this week on business, and Son becomes single Dad, which works very well for everyone. Sometimes he needs to keep the baby home, but otherwise he puts her in the carriage and walks to day care. It is a new mindset, and I love it.
