It was raining when we landed in Minneapolis. The pilot mentioned this before hand.
I talked to my sister Rebecca on the phone. She said it was raining in these odd sporadic little showers all afternoon.
I caught the shuttle to St. Cloud. The driver said he may have to drive slower than normal, because of this rain. The blond guy in the front passenger seat who works on oil wells in Alaska said, "Yeah, what's with this wet stuff?"
Today when I took Mom to her therapy session, two of the therapists were talking about it. "Did you have rain at your house last night?" "I had pouring rain at my house. And hail. I couldn't believe it."
Something struck me as odd about all this conversation. Suddenly I realized what it was:
In Oregon, people do not talk about rain.
Really, why would you mention rain?
We talk about sunshine.
In winter we call them "sun breaks," and we go to the window and just LOOK. On sunny spring days, store clerks moan about having to work inside and they tell you to go out and enjoy the day. When you call your friend Rita or Arlene to ask about food for Sunday night, one of you says, "Isn't this sunshine amazing?" and the other says, "Yes, I spent the day working in the flower beds. It was just wonderful."
Today the sun shone here in Minnesota. It was just wonderful.
* * *
Mom is in the nursing home. I think she should still be in the hospital but you know how they shoo you out of the hospital these days. So she's in the nursing home for rehab. Today I took Rebecca to catch the same shuttle out of St. Cloud, and then I spent a bunch of time with Mom, and went to the house (10 miles) and took a little nap and then brought Dad in until he got bored and sleepy, then I took him back and cooked supper, then dashed back in for supper and a walk outside, pushing Mom in her wheelchair.
Based on the info Rebecca handed off to me, I'm guessing Mom had 10% less pain today and was 10% more alert.
And now I'm at the Hilltop Cafe and need to get back to Dad.
Quote of the Day:
"Oooh, zeite veis."
--Mom, when Dad asked if her leg hurts. It means "occasionally" but is an odd German phrase.
In England we talk about all the weather all the time! Living in Cornwall (the most south-westerly county) we are almost an island and the weather varies so much between towns. Today I left home driving in thick fog to pick up my mum and dad to take them to see my 2-day old grandson. Mum and Dad only live 12 miles away from us but the difference in weather was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI so feel for you regarding the distance between your home and where your parents live. Our daughter and son-in-law got married last October and live in Wales, about 220 miles from here and that seems an awfully long way away.
Kay
I spent a semester in Tacoma and I learned to not even bother with an umbrella. It sort of rained all the time. I thought I didn't mind too much (except I couldn't make my hair do anything nice), but when the sun appeared after 3 weeks I went crazy with joy.
ReplyDeleteThe sun is out here today after several days of rain. But our water table is low, so I'm glad for the rain too.