Two weeks ago today, I posted a blog titled "Not a typical day....................". You may want to read it before proceeding here.............. this post will make a little more sense if you do. If not, and you believe in determination, read on.................
My 90 year old Mom was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago. Things did not look good for her for the first three days, but on the fourth day, she seemed a little better. Every day she progressed a bit, and finally was moved to re-hab within the same hospital. I know it was only two weeks, but when you see someone you care about so much struggling, it seems like an eternity.
Since I live with her and am her caregiver, I went to the hospital every day for her sessions with the Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist. At first it was very difficult for her.............almost to the point where I thought she was going to give up. The Physical Therapist boasted to me one day that she walked 32 feet with her walker. I challenged her to do 50 feet.............."no way" she said. Well, she walked 53 feet that morning, and did it a repeat performance that afternoon.................as if she were competing for a Gold Medal. But she still seemed a little discouraged at times, so................
Every day I would challenge her.......................if she boasted 53 feet, I asked for 70 feet.............a little trick I learned from her. Growing up with this woman was like growing up with Monty Hall, everything was all about "Let's Make a Deal!" Whatever I did as a child, she always asked for more, so now the tables are turned................................which is not such a bad thing.
This morning I showed up per usual just before her session. She told me that she almost..............did you hear me.......................almost made it one complete lap around what we refer to as the gym. This took place on Saturday, the one day that I couldn't be there for her session. She was also so proud of herself because she could stand unassisted for 6 minutes. So I asked her what she was going to do today in her session...................."We'll see" was her reply.
Transport showed and and wheeled her down for her session. The Physical Therapist was waiting for her and said that she wanted her to walk again today, and wanted to see if she could make it a little further than she did on Saturday....................................
That's when it all happened.................................she reached back, took hold of the handles of her wheelchair and hoisted herself up. She grabbed the handles of that walker like someone was going to snatch it away from her, and THEN I SAW HER FACE.................I knew that she was going to make it one lap around that gym and there was no one that was going to stop her! She took off like a thoroughbred out of the starting gate................well, at least that's how I saw it. Head held high, shoulders back and off she went...............
Do I have to tell you...................SHE MADE IT, SHE COMPLETED ONE FULL LAP AROUND THE GYM! The look on her face was priceless when she crossed the finish line.
Not only did she make it the full lap, but she stood today unassisted for 10 minutes, not 6..........10.......... Why? Because I did the Monty Hall thing with her............."Let's Make a Deal" Mom, go for 10 minutes today.
NOW I'M A BELIEVER!
If you are determined, you can make anything happen.
She wants to come home, that's her Gold Medal!
and she's damn close.................
One last thought to leave you with..................when we got back up to her room, lunch had arrived. As she was sitting there eating her lunch, she looked over at me and said..................
"I think I did it too slow, I'll do it faster tomorrow!"
Fighting back the tears, I replied................"I'm sure you will Mom, I'm sure you will!"
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68 Comments on Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer...........................
Roger: Yeah... about the Monkee'ing around. I bet when you start... you just "go bananas." I am also sure that you find that activity very "appealing." And, of course, I gotta get in that you sometimes Monkee around, going bananas while doing it, just to be one of the "bunch."
Fall into a trap. Noper... not of my doing. Besides... you know as well as I do... that many of the "traps" we fall into... are ones we set... ourselves. I know that's true in my case. How 'bout you ?
Mary Lou = Truly, we are both lucky.............I wouldn't trade this time with her for anything in the world. She's an amazing woman. I know exactly how you felt taking care of your Mom, isn't it the most rewarding experience....................Bless you and thank your for your kind thoughts.
Karen Anne -Did you see the "mile long" comment above the one about "monkeeing" around in response to your comments?
I've been known to go "bananas" at times, which is "appealing" to some but not the whole "bunch"............I've never been one of the "bunch" though, always a little out of the norm for me.
Truer words were never spoken Karen Anne.............guilty as charged of setting my own traps that I fall into! I'll be the first to admit it.
So how is it you get a blog "Featured"?
Roger: Wow... look at you go ! More than half-way to 100. Ms Karen Anne is so proud of you.
OK... how is it that you get a blog "Featured" ? I looked in my personal library of posts... and found this one I wrote about what makes a post a Featured post. A Post about Featured Posts... and Criteria... Almost Turns into a "Food Fight !" The post also mentions a blog post in which some of the Active Rain biggies... either wrote it, or commented. That is the food fight one. I will try and find a link to that post, as well.
Gotta go, now. It's nap time... LOL.
Great post, loved it almost as much as I love you Ms. Karen Anne................almost! And I see it got FEATURED.......................
I get all that, I realize different blogs appeal to different people. Does someone submit a post to the "higher ups" of ActiveRain to see if they'll feature it? Does someone sift through them and decide "what's hot" and "what's not"? Is there a lottery? LOL.
That's my question Big Sis.
I will patiently await your answer since it's nap time................LOL. Actually, I'm headed out to finish up a job this afternoon.
No rest for the wicked!
Oh Roger! This is so awesome!!!! I am so excited she is doing better and I know you must be feeling so relieved. A long walk from your panicked text to this great post!
From someone who has lost her mom, these are great memories to have and a cherished gift to be able to give back to the one person in this whole world who would do anything for you and love you no matter what!
You are an awesome person! A great soul to have on this earth! And I am so thankful to have you a part of my life!
Love ya!
Roger: The nap was great. Mmmm.
Now... how does a post end up getting featured ? Do you have to "do" something ?
No. All you do is "be yourself"... and write the post.
There are several folks at Active Rain who read these posts. Some are staff, and I have also heard that Active Rain also depends on certain "selected Active Rainers" to also recommend to them posts to consider. And... that is about it.
Those folks at Active Read the posts... and then, plain and simple, if they think they SHOULD be featured... if they think they will have wide-spread interest... if they think that the post is something that needs to be seen... if they think that the post might also be "quirky" enough to attract readers... lots of stuff... many thing... many.
If... this group simply thinks it would make sense to feature it... They Do !
There used to be a little picture of a "flag" right under the post... next underneath the end of the post... beneath the words "posted by Roger Mucci" on 06/07/2010 03:28 PM.
There was a little envelope, a Bookmark icon, and then a flag. That's how it was up until a week or two ago. Then, the flag disappeared, and the "Suggest" button on the top right appeared.
If one of the Active Rain members saw a post and thought it merited being "Featured"... before, they clicked on the Flag icon, and wrote why they thought it should be featured.
Now... all we are able to do is click on the "Suggest" button... and that is it.
So... there isn't much YOU can do, nor I. I can hit the Suggest button... which I already have tried... for you. That's about it.
So... all of this... what does it really add up to ? Nuttin' honey. LOL.
Take care... hope Mom is progressing.
By the way... I have collected about five posts from my personal archives... some by me, some by others... that relate to "featured posts." If you would like links so you can become a super expert on Features... it would be easy for me to drag and drop the links to the posts in a comment box. Just say the word.
By the way... VERY nice header and border to this Active Rain blog, my dear. How did you DO that ? I am nowhere near techie enough to even attempt it. What is your secret ?
I have a very wide-screen monitor... and when I hit "full screen" the full header shows, and vertical columns of what appears to be wallpaper are on each side. Very nicely done.
Christine - That morning was one of my worst ever. Thank you for being there for me when I was in panic mode. I was fine until I was driving to the hospital. I really am good in an emergency, then after all is said and done, I'm kind of numb.
The day I wrote this post, it was so awesome to watch her in action in Physical Therapy. I have never seen anyone so determined in my entire life...................
I know you have such fond memories of your Mom that you will cherish for life. No one can take the place of a Mom. Being this involved with mine at this stage of her life is actually a gift for me.
Thank you for all of the lovely compliments, your good wishes and most of all your friendship. You brought me to ActiveRain, and I truly appreciate that................I have met so many wonderful people here.
Love ya back!
Karen Anne - Well thank you for the very thorough explanation.............that looked like lesson plans for a month Teach! You must have sat there and thought one of two things.............
#1 This guy is stupid. I better lay it all out for him so he quits asking these hideous questions.
OR
#2 This retired teacher has a chance to shine. So this jackass had a FEATURED post, big deal, I'll show him I know much more than him.................and you do Big Sis.
Thanks for eveything and all of your help.
Karen Anne - From your Home Page, under Blogs............click on Customize. You will see steps to customize your header, background, background color.............etc.
I don't exactly remember how I did it...........if I'm not mistaken it walks you through it when you go to customize. I found the header and background when I Googled "free headers and backgrounds" and uploaded them to my blog.
I think it's pretty fun and played around with several before I settled on this one.
I'm not sure if this was much help, but give it a try. I did have some help from an ActiveRain member with the header.................I'll tell you who in a personal e-mail if you'd like to know, I'm sure she would be willing to help you too.
Hugs!
Roger: Really, as for comment # 55 and # 58... all I did was sit down, and type it out as it came to me. That is how I teach. And... by the way... my educational/learning/teaching philosoply is... that if it is a classroom situation, and the kids or students are not learning whatever it is... the fault lies primarily with the TEACHER.
Although my degree is in Psych... at St Felicitas, out of the eight classes a day I taught, four of them were math. Two each in grades seven and eight. For nine years.
My thought was... as I said above... that if there was any child who was unable to understand math... it was MY fault. I needed to find the right key that would unlock the big math mystery to his or her brain.
I could not begin to tell you how many parents came in to the parent meetings after the first six weeks of having their child in the seventh grade... and tell me that, up till then, their child (usually a girl) just hated math. And now, it was her favorite subject, and she was getting awesome grades in it.
It's all in the teaching.
So now... my friend... as far as your header and background, yes, email me the name, please. And... my NEXT post tonight... already submitted two so far... my NEXT one... features YOUR header and background. Uh oh... here I go again. Now, if you would be so kind as to take a peek at the first two ?
Wish I had been in one of your classes.............I'm sure you were an awesome teacher. It's obvious the way you explain things so thoroughly, to make someone understand exactly what it is you are trying to say. Teaching is a gift................you've got the gift my friend.
What the hell am I talking about, I AM IN YOUR CLASS................the ActiveRain guru, Miss Karen Anne Stone. And I'm one of your many groupies.
I've already commented on one of your blogs tonight. I'll have to go check out the others.
Actually, my friend... you are almost correct. You may call me the Active Rain Gur-ette ! You mess up again, and yeer gonna end up writing it on the chalk board one hundred times.
Wow... I did that one to the kids quite a few times.
But... then again, there were other times when, during math class... when I sense that "their heart wasn't in it"... I would walk to the closet, pull out my Gibson acoustic guitar, and sit atop my desk, and we'd all sing folks songs for the rest of the class. Peter, Paul and Mary kinda stuff. Bob Dylan, too.
You think I've never done that before? Honey, my penmanship is excellent, even on a chalk board, I wrote many a task on the chalk board 100 times.................... legible too.........bloody knuckles to prove it. Ahhhhhhhhh, those nuns at Catholic school. BTW, I was the first student in the history of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be expelled................now there's an interesing post!
You will always be my ActiveRain Guru-ette!
Remember me telling you about Mr. Not So Interesting? He was a teacher, 6th grade in Willowick...........a guitar player himself..................used to do the same thing, whipped out that guitar and sang all day with the kids................
What an inspiration your Mother must be to you! Thank you for sharing this story with us all.
Mike - She is a marvelous inspiration to most who meet her.............an amazing woman. Thanks so much for commenting.
Roger: Congratulations on your featured post. Those are so hard to come by for some of us Lake Countians. And the fact that it was about your Mother must have made it even more special.
Carolyn - Thank you............it was my first featured post and it makes me very happy that it was from the heart and about my Mom. Thanks for dropping by tonight..........much appreciated.
Roger - What a super cool post. Your mom is an amazing woman...and, now she's 93. Wow.
I was going to reblog this, but it is members only. So if you can make it public, I'll reblog. If not, feel free to leave me a link for another featured post that I can reblog. Just leave me a comment somewhere.