Family Home Evenings

In my Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a program called Family Home Evening where families reserve one night per week to spend together. Sometimes unstructured, these evenings can also include a lesson and some sort of dessert. These usually occur on Monday nights. The last two Monday nights, however, have been spent in the emergency room at Tempe St. Luke Hospital, where I have had to take my Mother.

Last week it was a cat bite that had gotten infected on her left hand, earlier today she fell (twice) and landed on her face. This has produced a swollen left cheekbone and a nice, swollen shiner on her left eye.

She is doing okay, but these little emergencies have been rattling me somewhat. I've gone back to wearing my wedding rings, just simply because I need to know that Decker is going to be near me in spirit as things progress with my Mother's health, hopefully in years rather than months.

The good news is the bite has healed, she didn't break anything in her face, and the broken foot she got from falling back in June healed a few weeks ago. She still needs help around the house, and given this last incident, it looks like there will be no relief in sight as far as my being able to take time away from her.

I know in retrospect I will look back on this and be thankful for the increased time I've spent with my Mother. It's just that right now, when I need to get my washing machine repaired, my air conditioning repaired, and the air conditioner in my car repaired, it would be nice to be able to get some things done without having my time tied up.

The hospital asked me if I was her caregiver, I told them "no, I'm her daughter". Hopefully I can keep that perspective down the road.