Time Out

For days now, I’ve been trying to work into my schedule a nap in the new hammock. Life just hasn’t cooperated with that plan. The last two weeks have been simply overwhelming around here because of Mama J.’s and Papa T.’s needs. I don’t share much about their conditions because they like their privacy, but I could write paragraphs daily about the ups and downs of elder care. There are the 4am phone calls, the falls and the piles and piles of medication which take incredible concentration to keep from getting that stuff mixed up. It is intense. Our experience over the past two weeks could be summed up with the phrase, “Bus driver, let me off!”

We always knew we would reach a point where we needed some help with their care, and that time has arrived as these three Hula- gen’s will collapse if we try to keep up this pace much longer. I know we’ll work through this phase and trudge on. It’s what must be done, but right now we’re walking around in a constant state of weary.

It’s especially hard on Hubby as he bears the brunt of the load. He has spent more time at their house lately than ours and has rarely had a break. By Saturday morning, he was in dire need of a little “me” and “we” time, so even though I wanted to sleep in and could have, I dragged out of bed so we could be together for a while. We went to an auction while Teen Angel was at work. We had breakfast together and made plans to buy him some new shoes and eat a late lunch with Teen Angel between her two shifts at work.

We had a great time at the auction. The police department was auctioning off confiscated items and unclaimed property. I bought a home gym for a third of what it would have cost in the store, and we hauled it home just in time to meet up with Teen Angel. I stood in the kitchen piddling around on the computer while they were supposed to be freshening up and getting ready for us to leave for lunch. About ten minutes into my Facebook and Pioneer Woman time, I turned around to see why everyone was so quiet and found this:

And you can’t see her in this picture but the cat was napping, too in her bed by the patio doors. Everyone was napping. I wasn't the only one who needed hammock time. My poor tired peeps were all pooped out. (Say that three times fast.) The week had caught up with them, so I did what any good mom would do. I pushed aside by plans for lunch and shopping. And took their picture so I could post it on my blog for the whole world to see.