(Originally posted in Facebook on March 4, 2019)
Good weekend, challenging weekend. I guess it’s possible to have both at the same time.
One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed, living with M, is that I’m now responsible for all the driving. ALL the driving. And I really don’t enjoy driving. So when we drove 3.5 hours to the beach this weekend to visit family, I was the only one behind the wheel. I know, it’s not that far to drive and it shouldn’t be that big a deal, but . . . Friday night, on the way there, it was raining – and I was really uncomfortable and nervous driving in that. Particularly because a lot of the roads weren’t well lit and I wasn’t familiar with them. M was having a hard time following the directions I had stored on a memo list in my phone and Google maps wanted to send us on a different route than the shorter version I was trying to follow. Added to all that, we had our dogs with us, so every once in a while, there would be a whine from the peanut gallery. It was fun.
We really did have a great time there. M and I participated, with our sister-in-law, in a 5K race (they ran, I walked) and we got to go shopping, see our niece in a soccer game, join my mom and another sister-in-law for dinner, visit with friends for breakfast the next morning and take the dogs to run on the beach and play in the ocean. I can’t thank my brother and SIL enough for putting up with us!
And you can always count on your brother to hold you accountable, can’t you? At their house after the 5K, as we were gathering all our shirts and gear from the race, M picked up a shirt and asked if it was mine. I told him no, that since I was wearing my shirt, the one in his hand had to be his. My brother heard this exchange and chimed in, “All you had to say was no.”
At first I was annoyed. I wanted to tell my brother to mind his own business. But then I realized, he was exactly right. All I had to say was no. The shirt in M’s hand wasn’t mine. I’m still trying to get him to change his thought process and show him the “error of his ways,” I guess. But that’s not what’s needed now. I just need to answer the question. No, that’s not my shirt. Yes, I fed the dogs. It’s simple. But not easy. Believe it or not, I did thank my brother for reminding me of this. Even though I know he enjoyed it WAY too much.
Just to make this weekend even better, my wonderful SIL, who lives at the beach, gave me a beautiful Lokai bracelet, designed by street artist James Goldcrown, that benefits the Alzheimer’s Association. She is also riding over 100 miles in a bike ride on July 14th to #ENDALZ. She has embraced this cause with such passion!