Yesterday I had it in my mind to winterize the forward bilge in Finback and install some 115 volt lights in the main bilge. Unfortunately, when I stopped at my mother's house in the early afternoon, I got waylaid by hysterics and a lost sewing kit.
The day started out productive enough. I got some writing done, delivered my outgoing mail to the post office, took care of some important email correspondence. I even brought the guys in the mechanics shop down at the marina their Christmas gift and managed to fill the forward bilge with non-toxic anti-freeze.
But then I stopped by my mother's to bring her some lasagna for lunch. That was when the excrement hit the whirling blades. She was in a state of hysterics because she couldn't find her sewing kit. This happens often these days, whenever she can't find something. Invariably, she believes the missing item has been stolen. Forget the fact that nobody has been in the house, or that she lives alone, or the reason she can't find something is because she hid it to keep it from the imaginary thieves.
She has Alzheimer's. It's not her fault.
Doesn't make it any easier.
I spent the next three hours cleaning out her room and closet until I found where she had squirreled away the sewing kit. At one point, I had to grab her by the shoulders and look straight in her eyes and yell at her to stop crying. I tried to reason with her about how great her life is compared to other people in the world. We were screaming at each other. She was blaming me for everything. I was trying to use logic to get her to stop crying and screaming. She was winning.
Afterwards I tried to console her and tell her she needed to see another doctor, maybe a shrink. She just got irate and mean and called me all kinds of names. She gets that way now.
When I found her sewing kit, she said thank you, and then it was like nothing had ever happened. Meanwhile, I needed a shot of something strong. It was only 4:00 but I went to the liquor cabinet and took two shots of The Glenlivett right out of the bottle. By this point it was getting dark and I had no interest in finishing the job on the boat. I was pretty well spent. What the hell, it was suppose to get warmer for the weekend. (Mild weather inbound from the west coast.)
Come to think of it, this whole thing with my Mom happened at about the exact time of Winter Solstice, September 21, 1335 hours.
-seabgb
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