Olive Garden

School started this week which also coincided with the hottest week of the summer. I don't know what they have to do with each other except to make one as irritating as the other.

With school starting again and myself without employment outside the home I have so much more time to spend with my mother which was the purpose for quitting my job. Tonight and tomorrow night I will go up and stay the night with her as my dad went out of town for a few days. He needs breaks.

It also gives me more time to spend with her during the week. As selfless as my motives seem to be I know that spending extra time with her may drive me to drink or at least to eat an entire pan or two of brownies. mmmmmmmm.....brownies........ As demonstrated in today's adventure:

My sister has been faithfully going up to her house every Wednesday for a few years and taking her on an outing. I should thank my sister sometime for taken on that onerous burden. Now that I'm available I get to participate in this adventure. Today my sister decided that we were going to lunch---because we know our mom will pay for it.

I met them at the local Olive Garden where we sat down and had a lovely meal of soup, salad and breadsticks with alfredo sauce. We told her what the kids were doing, what classes they were taking this year, if they were happy, what our husband's were doing, if they were happy, if we loved her, if we will miss her when she's gone....you know, the normal stuff.

When it was time to go we got her Jazzy backed out from the table and my sister points to my mother's left and says, "Oh good. we have a clear path out of here," as there was no one standing in the aisle. My mother, who has always been like a bull in a china closet sees only what is directly in front of her, not noticing my sister pointing the other way and starts to go forward.

Now there is and always has been only one speed for my mother: AS FAST AS SHE CAN GO! She's 6 feet tall and mean looking and goes as fast as her legs and now her wheels can carry her. So she's got her Jazzy up on high and starts to go forward instead of to the left. She catches some lady's purse onto the back of her oxygen tank and starts to pull the lady's chair over. The lady is hanging onto the chair and at the same time is trying not to tip over the table and trying to get out of the chair.

My sister and I are yelling, "Mom, stop! Stop, Mom! MOM! STOP! STOP!!" as loud as we can and she is totally oblivious to the fact that this is even happening. Finally she turns around and sees that we're freaking out and that the chair hooked to her Jazzy by this purse is keeping her from going any further.

I have to say that luckily she has the most pathetic, duh! look on her face about everything now so that you can't help but feel sorry for her and you certainly can't get mad at her. The lady being pulled off her chair was a little annoyed, the table was all askew and the people at her table were incredulous. I was soooo embarrassed that I just took off in the opposite direction and waited for my sister to sort things out with the people and get her out of there.

When we got her out to the car and loaded her in, my sister questioned her about what happened in the restaurant and my mother didn't really know what had happened. No really. She really didn't have a clue. She's not losing it she's just oblivious.

I'm so glad I quit my job.

I Resigned

That's it. The title says it all. I resigned from my position at the school. It has a 3 fold explanation:

1. My mother is dying. No really, she is. She has Pulmonary Fibrosis and has outlived her life expectancy by three years. She has tried every experimental drug the doctors can shove on her and I think they have prolonged her life. Not to mention her fierce will to continue living and see her grandchildren do their thing. But now we truly think she's at the end. She's 6 feet tall and weighs maybe 105 lbs. She's on oxygen 100% of the time and doesn't eat much anymore. She turned 74 in June. My dad is 77 and is very healthy but needs to have breaks now and again from the care taking responsibilities. So I quit my job to help them out. Sounds like I'm a real great gal, doesn't it.

2. My husband needs an office assistant. He is a Family Therapist with his own business. I know he could make more money and finish more projects if he had someone to do the books, the billing, and the hodgepodge of office life that I can do so easily. We had thought about it for some time and feel that we can make the leap now without killing ourselves. (God, please don't let us kill ourselves!--A serious prayer.)

3. I was sick of the District I work for. Aside from the fact that the district is the best run in the state and the legislature hate us, which I love, they have a backward way of thinking. It's an good old boys' club. Everyone hides behind each others coattails so no one takes the blame for anything. I just got sick of it. But, and it's a big but, if my mother's health hadn't turned I probably would have gone down in a blaze of glory. I could sue them and win. I could sue the teacher at my school--you know who you are you backstabbing bitch--who sent the district the anonymous letter. It's an anonymous blog people. And for the record I know of a few more people in the district who work in Special Ed that have blogs they write about their students and it's NOT anonymous. Go figure out who they are because I'm not a tattle tell.

And that's where I stand. I am still heavily involved in the PTA. I have one child left at the elementary school which I was formerly employed. I'm still going to be in the school often enough and have friends that will tell me stories that will make their way to my blog.

So watcha gonna do to me now, Big Bad District? HUH?! What now?!