Morning pep talk.

Shop? Or Play?

My morning reflections of the day before. I guess that is what I'm doing here. It is my morning pep talk to myself. Trying to understand my emotions, my train of thought. How am I handling this day of living with Sweetie. 

I'm finding how I can be hit with a change in my plans, and change gears, to keep going, and not let the change bother me. 

As long as I don't put everything in concrete, and leave a little wiggle room, and be open to the change and solution, all can be well. 

Monday

The started with hearing Sweetie's door opening. I'm getting lazy with watching her and that leads to her being able to surprise me. 

I was able to lead her to the bathroom for our morning clean up. 

Cleaned up and fed, I started to get ready. Having a dental appointment, and making arrangements for my weekday lady to come and sit with her, I was ready to get going. 

When I was expecting her to show, and she was a no show, texted her, and found out she couldn't make it. 

Plan for the worse, hope for the best came into play. It was going to be the dynamic duo this morning at the dentist. Taking a bottle of Happy Medicine with us, we were off to the dentist. 

Getting there in time, and in the chair, with Sweetie sitting across from me, the scrapping began. 

The last time I was here, I made a big deal about waiting after my arrival. Even questioned them about wearing mask, and they didn't say a things when I didn't wear one or offer me one to wear. This time it was more like a well oiled machine, working at top proficiency. 

I have to go again next month to get a tooth built up so I can wear my crown again. That is fine, a solution is always a good thing. 

After the dentist, we headed to fulfill our golf portion, walk about time, and then home. 

The body shop called and sent a release form to start the work on Tweety. The lady was very sympatric, and understood how I felt about my Tweety being there. She promised that they would have us reunited soon. I told her that she was my "Tweety" and she so understood about naming cars. She had named hers too.

The estimate was emailed to me, the cost of repairs wasn't anywhere I thought it would be, and time for completion is 5 days.

Home, for most of the evening, dinner, then to our Monday night meeting, home again, and to bed we went. Our evenings are the best part of the day. 

Another successful day navigating the Road to Dementia Town. Dodging a few obstacles on the road, all the while, being able to enjoy the day, singing songs of praise, of thanksgiving, while all the time knowing that yet tomorrow, there will be new obstacles to face, yet we keep going, Keeping our Shiny Side Up. C'ya, Luv Ya, and God Bless.    

Sweets for my Sweetie.

At the beginning.

It seems that I'm fixated on these flowers. They were special, not for the reason most people would think. It is who sent them. 

They are from my youngest daughter. What is so special about that? Well, we have had a brouhaha for over a year and haven't spoken to each other during that time. We have since patch up our relationship, and this was the first love shot from her. 

In this, the twilight years, there just isn't enough time for stuff to get in the way of good relationships. These years, the ones that we have left, should be years of how much joy, happiness, and peace I can give, not push away. 

Like a mother hen gathering her chicks, I too must gather my friends and family together in celebrating that time which is left. 

These are the years where the demand is low, the expectation is high, and the time is short. Love and acceptance is the motto which I will try to live by. 

Sunday

Sunday, and what also starts with the letter "S"? That's right, shower. It is shower day. Wash her hair day. Getting naked with her, and soaping her up. I just look forward to this morning. I know she doesn't think or feel like I do, and that doesn't matter to me, it is just a fleeting memory of our showers from the past. 

Once done, time to turn on church for her to watch while I make our Sunday breakfast. We're short on bread, so it is scrambled eggs with biscuits, butter and jam. 

She's not too interested in the eggs, but the biscuits, now that is another story. She just eats them as fast as I can split, butter, and put jam them. So, I get the eggs, she gets the sweets for my Sweetie. 

For most of the day, she is just off center. Even when we went for our walk about, it was her uneasiness that made it not as enjoyable as it could have been. 

She was alright when we got home and I went to work on the yards. She sat on the places where she would be insight and I could get her if she wandered. 

After the yard, we sat down to watch TV, which seems to be more and more of her favorite activity. There was still this uneasiness about her, like she was priming herself for a meltdown.

I even put her down for a nap. I could see her eyes were telling me that she was tired. It was then, after she got up, it began. 

The back and forth from her room, to out with me. Looking at me and not see me at the same time. She was lost in her sundowner's. At this point, I made up my mind, it was CBD to the rescue. She took it with out a fuss, and then I waited. 

Happy to report that she did come out of her funk and we finished strong. I love these endings, it is just that I hate the hell we go through to get here. 

It is the bumps hidden in the shadows that cause the most reaction. Driver does His best to keep from hitting them, and then again, maybe He does that so we can have a better appreciation for the smooth time that come. I know that the Road to Dementia Town is a long one, and always changing. That is why we have a Driver to show us the way. For it is the reason we can Keep our Shiny Side Up. C'ya, Luv Ya, and God Bless.

Just right for both of us.

Life, like flowers, is a cycle.

Being philosophical, with my caption this morning. Looking at the pictures of what the flowers looked like when they first arrived, to this point. Some had withered and some, like the roses, opened more, and became more beautiful in their opening. 

They too did withered and we had to throw them away. Right now, I think we are in this stage of our lives. For we are not the beautiful, young buds, we are past our prime, and are starting to wither. Life has had its way with us, and yet here we are, still standing, and we still have more life left to live.  

Saturday

Just looking at the yards, the grass, and knowing they both need to be cut. That is my plans for this afternoon after golf. 

The morning started out about the same as usual. Accept for the fact that Sweetie has become somewhat of a blanket hog. She had wrapped herself up in the blanket, so to get her up, I had to unwrap her. 

Our sitter was coming, and I was eager to get going. Got Sweetie up, cleaned and dressed, out to the living room, and fed breakfast. 

My lady came, and the first thing she does is go over to Sweetie, gives her a hug, and introduces her. She has a big personality and that is how she greets her, and Sweetie responds in kind. They have a great relationship. 

In the meantime, we're chatting, and I'm bringing her up to date as to how she has been. We talk about what I would like done, she is a dynamo action lady, and the next thing I know, she is cleaning up, doing this and that, what a blessing she is. 

At the course, ran into Bruce, we've played together, and enjoy each other's company. He too is a caregiver to his wife. She has physical disabilities, not dementia, and we can share on a level that others cannot grasp. Plus we play at about the same level. 

When I got home, the report was that Sweetie didn't go back to her safe place, which was good to hear, that she went potty by herself, with a BM, and all was well. That was a great report. 

After our walk about, I headed for the backyard, with Sweetie in tow, to mow the yards. 

She was content to sit and watch as I mowed the lawn. Finished with the back, out to the front, sat her down on the bench on the porch at the front door. 

Even though the front is more weeds then grass, after it is mowed, it still looks good. My plan is to dig up the grass that is in my flowerbed and transplant it in the front yard. I've done this before in the back yard. After digging out the crab grass, I'd put plugs for the grass in the bare spots and it would soon spread and take over. It isn't an overnight fix, it takes time, and I've got plenty of that.

After the yard work was done, we had some time to kill before it would be time to head out to a meeting, so we started a movie. One of the things I love about streaming, is that we can start a movie, stop it, go do something else, come back and pick it up right where we stopped it. And that is what we did. 

We started and finished the movie "The Martian". It was just right for both of us. 

We finished our day well. 

Driver kept us on the good part of the highway for this day of travel down the Road to Dementia Town. A smooth start with the sun peaking over the mountains, to light up the road as we went Keeping our Shiny Side Up. C'ya, Luv Ya, and God Bless.