The joy of Leonor – Smiling with mom.
Mom will have an interview with Meals on Wheels on Friday morning. Yes! Her acceptance and even a kind of guarded curiosity of this long-fought battle was greatly encouraged yesterday by the perfect timing of Leonor stopping by the house. Leonor is the perfect Cheer Leader for mom and – Mom loves Sports. Just the mention of “Leonor” always brings a huge smile to her face. Whatever Leonor says is golden. Leonor gave a perfect sales pitch for Meals on Wheels and mom seems to finally be onboard. Our Angel Leonor! I am so grateful for the comfort and care she provides and that she is such an important part of moms life.
I really had my doubts of pulling of the Meals on Wheels and am still not sure it will be the answer but finally we can at least give it a try. Mom worries about wasting food and so do I. I just hope she actually eats it.
I’m seeing a new pattern of communication that mom and I have been experiencing in the last couple of years. It comes from the gradual shifting of mother and daughter roles. Resistance desolved by resilience! At first I hardly recognized mom when she expressed resistance, stubbornness and sometimes even anger. She has always been perfect example of “nice” and never rocked any boat. The epitome of “If you can’t say something nice -don’t say anything at all” This began to change when I started telling her/ suggesting to her what she should do “for her own good” – even if she didn’t agree. That’s when we had our first fight. I saw a side of her I had never seen before. I’m happy to say we have covered a lot of ground in the past couple of years and the last two months seem like a milestone. Now I am seeing a beautiful quality of Resilience that is such a strong part of her character. I’m sure it’s always been there but it has never been so obvious to me. She has a capacity to forget her initial resistance and just pop back into the mainstream of her life with no resentment, grudge or further thoughts of the conflict. In hindsight it certainly makes introducing change into her life easier for me.