Whew! July and August have been busy months! This is less of a blog post and more like another written excuse. My latest reason for being out of circulation is my little Mama had hip replacement surgery and I moved in with her for a few days to be her primary caretaker. You know everything is outpatient, these days, so they deposited her, still half drunk, into the backseat and we were on our way with our list of instructions, precautions, and prescriptions within just a few hours of arriving. 

Since then, we’ve navigated everything from showers to exercises to wrangling her into those compression stockings each day. Those compression things are really a team building exercise as well as excellent cardio for the one to whom they’re not being applied. Through it all, I’ve only wanted to throw her out into the yard once, twice max, and I’d say those are pretty impressively low numbers for a mother and daughter who are together 24/7 in a painful and taxing situation. I haven’t asked her how many times she’s wanted to throw me outside, because it might hurt my feelings. 

Anyway, she’s bounced back amazingly well to be an almost 81 year old. She’s walking perfectly with her walker and is practicing with a cane. It really is something how quickly they can get you back up and going. Her physical therapist said she was doing well enough that I could come home and just go over and help her with some chores every day, so that’s where we are now. With this new hip, I’ll be struggling to keep up with her once she’s fully recovered. As one of my brothers says, she’s got a lot of charge left on her battery. The three of us are awfully blessed to be hers. 

Before I go, y’all know by now that this is a special day for me. It’s the eve of the very last day of August. In just a little over 24 hours, we can put the long, miserable summer trilogy to bed and declare victory over its multiple attempts to kill us. This summer has been particularly vengeful. I know it will still be hot in September and even October, but this day is a psychological victory for me. I don’t like to wish my life away, but I do make an exception for the summer months. I’ve got plans to transform our house into something resembling and smelling like an autumn eruption this weekend. College football and September, you are most welcome here! 

Next week, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll be back to our regular programming. I hope y’all have had a good week and enjoy a long, relaxing weekend. Stay safe if you travel and we’ll talk soon! 

JONI