Eleven Years

Roses from the Garden for my Mother

Today is the 11th anniversary of my mother's death.  Sometimes, it feels like it was just yesterday.  I still miss her, every day.

Today has been another rainy day.  In the morning, I went to my doctor's appointment.  I have lost 2 lbs. more.  I turned in the record I had kept of my daily blood pressure and blood sugar readings for the past three weeks and she halved the dosage of one of my medications.  I am to continue to keep a record of my pressure and sugar readings and return for a follow-up visit in another three weeks' time.  She is also going to put in a request for an X-ray of my shoulder, as it still hurts from when I tripped and fell in January, just to see if there is a hair-line fracture. 

In the afternoon, the rain ceased for several hours.  I bought a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, which looked bright and cheerful on a rainy day like today, and visited my mother's grave.  She used to love it when I'd buy potted chrysanthemum plants and bring home to her.

As I was walking back from the grave site to my car, someone else who was at the cemetery approached me and started talking with me.  I had seen him earlier, leaving a grave site, when I got down from the car.  He was at the faucet, washing mud off his shoes when I went to fill the vase with water.  When he saw me waiting, he apologized and told me he had something on his shoes and asked if it was gone.  I said yes.  I saw him walking towards his car as I filled my vase and then, I went to my mother's grave.  I didn't think much about it, but when he headed towards his car, I assumed he was leaving (I thought he was washing his shoes off so he wouldn't get mud on his car mats).  I hadn't realized he had gone back to the grave site he had left earlier.  As I left my mother's grave, I saw that he was coming towards me and he said something about how hard it was to lose a loved one and I agreed with him and he chatted to me as we walked to where our cars were parked.  Somehow, in those 3 or 4 minutes it took for us to walk, he managed to tell me his name, where he was from, that he had a dog  and two cats, and that he was separated from his wife!  And then, he asked me if my husband was still alive!  Um...until then, I had thought that he was just a very friendly, outgoing person.  I hadn't thought that maybe he was trying to chat me up!  I simply said yes, my husband was still alive, and then I got into my car and drove off.  But not before he came over to the car to tell me more about himself and his grandmother who brought him up and whose grave he was visiting!  I was telling my daughter about it and she thought it was "creepy".  Come to think of it, the cemetery is a rather isolated place; there weren't any other people around!       

After I came home, I picked some roses from the garden to place on the mantel, near my mother's picture. Well, of course, Dancer had to come and check it out; he's sulking in this picture, because he started to eat one of the roses and I shouted at him!

"Mummy won't let me eat the roses!"

I had a cup of tea and a banana for breakfast; leftover rice, shrimp curry and stir-fried vegetables for a late lunch, after I came back from the cemetery. Sandwiches and an orange for dinner.

It started raining again in the evening and there's more rain in the forecast!  I think it is safe to say we are over the drought, now!  

Today, I am grateful for:
- Memories of my mother
- A good visit with the doctor
- Another medication dosage was lowered
- Safe drive to the clinic and back
- More rain for the garden

Today, I spent $15 for the dr's visit; $2 for parking; $6.50 for flowers.

How was your day?