Mayhem at the rest home

The only reason I can blog about this is most of my family pays no attention to my blog endeavors what so ever. Should this suddenly disappear, you will know that one of them has become blog savvy.

For those of you who are not blessed to have lots of family living at your finger tips, let me share a glimpse of my families Sunday Dinner yesterday. First of all this was not the average Sunday dinner for us. It was special because we were celebrating my Nana's 95 birthday. As I blogged about last week, because of Alzheimer's, Nana lives in a special home that can meet her needs. We have learned over the last few years that attempts to take her out of the home are miserable for her and us. SO to celebrate her birthday my Aunt Thomasue reserved two rooms at the home. If you can't take Nana out to the celebration, take the celebration in to Nana.

This was a logical and reasonable solution, or so I thought. That is the last time you will see the words logical and reasonable connected to this event. My Aunt is a bit of an over-the-topper (some argue that I get "it" from her). So in her quest to make her Mother's birthday special, she decided to recreate her home dining room in the rest homes stark but functional activity rooms.

T-sue not only cooked and carried "special" chicken, roast, 2 broccoli and rice casseroles, sweet potato casserole, green beans, blueberry salad, homey green salad with three dressings, 5 pans of sister Shubert rolls, and cake and ice cream to feed 32 people up to the home, she also brought 5 table clothes, 8 silver trivets, many silver serving spoons, 4 or 5 flower arrangements, a dozen framed pictures and two dozen "kinko" copied poster pictures, three happy birthday banners, a dozen serving towels, and about 24 items of sterling silver. (The eternal run-on sentence is meant to help you feel overwhelmed, confused and out-of-breath as I did while we were unloading.) My "always prepared" Aunt even brought her own tin foil, zip lock bags, hot pads, scissors, tape, lighters, craft paper, tape, cups, 3 kinds of plates, and 2 kinds of napkins. I am sure I left at least two or three dozen items off of these lists. The boxes just kept coming.

So after church, the small army that is my family (25 adults & 6 kids) assembled at "the home" to unload a fleet of SUVs and turn the meeting rooms into Shez-Nana! Mass confusion ensued. I am amazed that it only took us two hours to get everything ready. All the while, the six great-grands:Kolby 6, Samantha 5, Rhett 3, Justin & Scarlett almost 3, and Whitney 7 months, were running wild, screaming "I'm hungry" as we tried to get everything up on the walls and warm on the table.

My Nana was sitting in her wheel chair in the midst of the chaos asking "Where's Caskey?" ~ her husband who died eight years ago. Every once and awhile she would stop to tell us "I really don't think you should be doing that," no matter what we were doing. By the time the adults finally sat down to eat, the kids had finished and were running wild again. The only breaks in the loud roar of conversation and confusion came for the prayer before the meal and the traditional singing of "Happy Birthday".

BUT the food was incredible! The table looked beautiful. We were all able to be there, which almost never happens anymore. The many pictures inspired some lively, fun conversations. The kids had a blast playing together, despite a bleeding nose, two head-on collisions, three smashed fingers and several trips to time out. In a brief lucid moment, my Nana told us she was the luckiest person she knew. (Rob likes to point out that she really doesn't know anyone anymore, but that is beside the point.) I'm not sure she appreciated all the hub-bub and decor, but I think she grasped that it was all for her. My Nana has seen 95 birthdays. I'm not sure any could top yesterdays event.

My aunt and my mom completely floor me with their blind devotion to their mother. In the years since this disease has taken control of her mind, Nana has cussed them up and down, disowned them time and again, and even tried to report them to the authorities for neglecting her (my Mom had a job and it really put my Nana out that she could not stay with her 24/7!) But this honory old lady was once the sweet mother that rocked them to sleep, curled their hair, cried at their weddings, came for weeks to help when they had babies, and assured them God was in control when life seemed too hard or crazy. She is still their mother, even though she is not the mother she once was.

I looked at my Mom during the hour long clean up process yesterday and said, "Mom, I love you but when you are in the home, you are getting take-out on plastic plates!" My Mom laughed and said that is exactly what she wants because that is how she lives now! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA! May we all love our mothers beyond sanity....ours and theirs!