Game changer: I woke this morning to an email from my brother that will alter the next months of my life. Stafford lives in St. Paul, Minn. He is experiencing the pressures of isolation and virus transmission at the city level, while we here in rural Iowa are still in "isolation lite."
My parents live in a care center in our home town of Ft. Dodge. Stafford asked if Dan and I could relocate our 89-yr-old (suffering dementia) mother and 90-yr-old (weak heart, frequently stumbling) father to our (relatively isolated) farm for the next weeks (?) months (??) while the virus moves through their care center. Lots of parentheticals. Bear with me.
Of the five siblings, I have the home that offers the best isolation option. My husband and I live in the country and can limit our contact with others. We can do this. We will give my parents the basement level to accommodate their limited mobility and still give them a degree of privacy.
But as the day unfolded, the reality of embracing elderly parents began to set in. My dad asked if they could have a stove or cook plate in the basement. (NO! You'd both forget to turn it off!) "Of course," I said.
Would there be refrigerator space for all the sundry leftovers they'd like to cart halfway across the state? (JUST THROW IT OUT! I've seen your refrigerator!) "Of course," I said.
Oh my. I love my parents. I want to love them through this time of Clovid-19. But it helps to talk about it here.
Enough.
Stay well.
Write.
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| Leighton, Adrienne, Allison, Megan, Stafford Leroy and Meredith Berryhill, 2017 |
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