Mom's Last Trip (again)

Mom in a Box

Two or three trips beyond the first time we said, "This is Mom's last trip," she's making another one. It's summer, so the summer home beckons. My sisters are driving this train, and I have recused myself. Mom is all wound up, making calls, asking again and again about plane tickets, ferry rides, bus rides, car rides, and "how will we manage without a man?" -- and for all her questions, she absorbs nothing. '

The trip itself will be awful, and even arriving, she will need constant monitoring. If she wakes from a nap and there's no one within earshot, she will start yelling. And just keeping track of the pills -- times, doses, effects -- is a part-time job.

I called the nurse today, and she said, in her tone, that she wouldn't be doing this if this were her mom. But then, it's not her mom.

I am so glad, so very glad, I have other plans.