down to Rockford
Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005, 9:15 AM

Sitting down for a moment to catch up.

We went down to Rockford yesterday, to visit my mom at the rehab hospital where she's recovering from her knee replacement. She looks like hell, but she's been suffering a long time, and I'm hoping she can start to get back to her old self a little now.

Being with Mom is never easy for me, although I do love her and enjoy seeing her. But she's a pretty high-maintenance individual at the best of times, and this is far from that.

She was glad to see us, though, and I brought her a few things to "pay tribute"--a beautiful floral arrangement that was just her kind of thing, a big, sappy card that is the kind of glurge she likes, and some beaded bracelets for sparkle. And I gave her a lot of attention. That is what she needs the most in this world. Someone to listen, and to tell her she's right.

I gave her some physical attention, as well. Her poor feet were so dry and aching; I gave her a long, gentle foot rub with moisturizing lotion. I also washed her hair, which was making her crazy with the bedhead and being dirty.

We just had a nice visit, I think. I hope it helped her to feel a little better.

We also visited with Daddy, took him to lunch at Potbelly's and talked about Spouse's new job, Mom's condition, other stuff. He is so deaf that it is exhausting to try and maintain conversation with him, but he was very glad to see us, too.

It's really hard for him to be stuck in the Midwest this time of year, because this is usually when they are down on the Texas Gulf Coast for their vacation. He's craving the sun as bad as we are.

We left about mid-afternoon, and stopped at MediaPlay on the way out of Rockford. I got a P.D. James and a special 2-pack of DVDs--Doris Day musicals. "The Pajama Game", and "Calamity Jane", only $20.00.

We'd stopped at the Logli on the way in so I could get Mom's flowers and card, so Spouse had already stocked up on Mrs. Fisher's chips.

We trucked it back to K-Town, stopped at Walgreens for more cold medicine, and came home. Spouse was feeling peaked still, so he climbed into bed and snoozed till he got hungry. He had a couple ham sandwiches, took more cold medicine, and went back to bed for the night.

I watched "The Pajama Game", putzed around a little, and went to bed early. My folks take a lot out of me, and I was ready for the rack.