Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A day with my mum - an oven-roasted self

I just spent the whole day with my mum today, and it was hard - but not in the way I expected.

She's been staying with my brother, having just got out of hospital for an angioplasty; she's now on new meds and we didn't want her to be on her own while she's testing them out. To help out, I offered to entertain Mum during the day while he's at work (his family's away up the coast for a few days), then get her back to his place in time to cook him dinner.

Anyway, I was a bit nervous about spending all day with Mum, because she has a tendency to tell me how to run my life. Even a couple of hours with her could result in high blood pressure and an urgent wish for the boy to transfer to another country.

But it didn't happen that way.

Her critiques on my child-rearing, dress sense and housekeeping ability were minimal. What did bother me was that I ended up sweltering in oven-roasting temperatures all day because my mum is a human popsicle. She was snuggled up in three layers of polar fleece, and still wanting me to turn the heat up. I was stripped down to a (supportive) singlet and rolled-up jeans and still having one long, hot flush.

And of course, she warned me several times that I ought to put on a sweatshirt because it's cold out and she didn't want me to catch a chill.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm glad it went well. I sometimes write - and speak - in an offhand manner about my parents, and then my friend, whose mother went senile at the heartbreakingly young age of 47, and who now resides in a care home, reminds me that I'm an ungrateful little shit who ought to value the time I have with my folks. And he's right of course, he's so right.

Anonymous said...

My mother is on blood-thinning medicine so she is always cold. I have the heating raising the roof, I am in my underwear and she is pottering around going: "ooh I've just have a cuppa to warm myself up" Poor old bat :) E.

Anonymous said...

Glad she is getting better.
My Mom is always cold as well. It must just be a Mom thing. Which you will likely inherit at some point, ha,ha..

Violet said...

gary james: yeah, no matter how much she annoys me, none of that wipes out the fact that she's the one who made me macaroni when I was, bathed me in a plastic rubbish bin and took me out for tea and cake after school on Fridays.

beth: she's actually quite well now that she's had her op, regarding her appetite and energy levels. But it didn't stop her from keeping her fur coat on at the indoor pool today.

elizaf: hmm...I wonder whether medication is responsible for my mum's lack of internal heating?

happyandblue: one of my greatest fears is that at her age, I will adopt all of her least attractive qualities - hard of hearing, forgetful, long-winded and unable to stay warm. And the boy has seen what she's like, so he knows what he's got to look forward to!