Thanksgiving and the Fried Phone System

November 22

Thanksgiving morning, I got the turkey ready to go in the oven. We planned to eat about 3 PM and get Mom around noon. I tried calling to make sure they had her ready to go by 1 or so, and could not get through! The phone just rang and rang! I tried emailing them, but got no response either. This is not good, I thought.

So we just headed over there to pick her up between turkey basting. It turned out that a big accident nearby had blown a transformer and fried all their internal phone lines, although I could still get Mom on her phone.She was all ready to go with a nice blue suit on and her bag packed with camera, Depends and glasses. She was excited and looking forward to the day.

We got her in the Falcon OK, since the pickup is too high for her to get into. She is having some real problems with her left leg, pain and basically paralyzed, she cannot move it at all, which makes it tough to transfer, as though it wasn’t already!

Brought her toilet chair and wheelchair and got her home with no problem. We wheeled her into the coffeeroom and just visited while the turkey was cooking. It was done sooner than I expected, so I put together the potatoes, beans and gravy and we sat down to eat. If I do say so myself, it was delicious!

Mom does not have the appetite she used to, but finished her plate. Then she and I retired to the TV room while Jim cleaned up – the best part! She took some photos, which I got developed for her later. Around 5:15, she started making noises about going back to the room. I was surprised and thought maybe she had to go to the bathroom, and we were prepared for that. She was just tired. So we loaded her up and took her back. Left leg not working at all.

Of course, she had to go to the bathroom immediately when we got there, but they are good with her and we took off shortly after. I actually thought she would spend more time at the house, but it’s good that she’s here so I can see her more often for short times.

All in all, we were very thankful we could spend such a nice day with her.