Who's That Man With My Grandma?

Every Friday Mother has her hair done at a little shop not far from here in American Fork. There are probably 10-12 hairdressers and they also have a barber shop so it's a busy place. Quite often, when I take mother to her appointment, there is another older lady coming or going at the same time. She is tiny like mother, with white hair and a cane and she is very bent over. There is always a younger man helping her--just the way I help mother get in and out of the shop. Whenever we see her mother comments about how sad it is--"that poor woman who is so bent over." She often uses words like "pitiful", "so sad", "isn't that terrible?" As she makes these comments, I'm thinking, "She looks about like you, mother." But, of course, I would never say that to her and then I think that maybe the other lady really is more bent over than mother. One day I asked Heather to pick Mother up after her hair appointment because I was sick. She said when she pulled in she saw Grandma coming out of the shop with a man, who was helping her. She was so amazed and thought, "Who is that man with Grandma? What is Grandma doing with him--why is he helping her?" Then, she realized it wasn't Mother, but the other lady. I guess they do look a lot alike. I think we see ourselves as we were when we were young and able to do everything.

Saturday, September 24 was Cameron's baptism day. It's Heather's last child to be baptized--it was a great day. We enjoyed lunch at Heather's house after the baptism.

The weather has been so perfect these past few weeks--temperatures just perfect--cool nights, warm, but not hot days and lots of sunshine--Ah Fall!!  I told Art the other day that next Spring when I complain that our yard is too big and we need to sell it and get something smaller, he needs to remind me of Fall. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and had a couple of parties in our yard. One evening we hosted a neighborhood book group--mother joined us and I was so glad she did. Then on Thursday we had a luncheon for a couple of ladies who had birthdays this week. We had around 25 ladies here--did a pot luck salad luncheon and it was really nice. The ladies were so friendly to mother and she really seemed to enjoy the food and visiting. One of them said, "we should do this every month!"

Fall also brings the canning season and I was glad to get some peaches from a place in Orem. Our peach tree bore fruit this year, but they are so tiny--about the size of apricots. I guess I'm a "peach snob", because I just didn't want to spend the time putting them in bottles so I bought some nice ones. I think of the hundreds of bottles of fruit and vegetables mother must have bottled in her lifetime and she still would love to do it. She told me she would help and I would love it if she could, but I know she isn't physically able to do that. I just told her that Sarabeth was coming and we would do them together. Saturday morning she asked if we got all the peaches done and I said, "No, there are still two boxes on the deck, but with Cameron's baptism, they won't get done today." She said, "I can do them for you today!" She's always so willing and so wants to help. A good reminder for us when we think we have too much work to do! Being unable to work after a lifetime of work and service, is difficult, indeed.

Saturday night, Sarabeth, Amy and I went to the General Relief Society Meeting at the Conference Center. We are fortunate that our stake president is employed with the church and one of his responsibilties is the Conference Center--so he provided tickets for sisters in our stake. I invited mother to go with us and she really considered it, but in the end decided she really didn't feel well enough. Wish she could have been with us--it was a great meeting.

I think mother is doing quite well. She still enjoys visits, going out to lunch, concerts and being with family. We both send our love to all!