Fundamental Choices

Have you ever considered how many choices humans are faced with on a daily basis?

This morning for instance, did Mom want cereal or an English muffin? Simple choice for me, I'll have whatever wet can is next in the stack. Mom chose the English muffin with her black coffee. Coffee was the easiest, she only drinks it black, purist at heart when it comes to her coffee. Why would anyone want to detract from sheer perfection? Well, that is Mom's opinion on coffee, We know many people that disagree with her simple statement. Back to the muffin, with butter? with peanut butter? fluff? jelly? Now she is faced with choices, peanut butter it will be. Yuck, I don't know how humans eat that.

The day has barely begun and Mom is looking at the to-do list and thinking what was she thinking when she wrote this. Maybe another cup of coffee and this fog will lift from around her brain. That was easy, stall for time. I can sneak in a cat snooze now that she has decided to stall for another hour. It always takes her an hour to sip her coffee while she reads.

What does she want to tackle on her to-do list? The weather man says it will be ninety degrees so that definitely will limit my outside activities if I decide to tackle any at all today. I may have to lie under one of the giant hostas while she putters in the garden. My long fur has not begun to shed yet, I'm sure after this weeks hot spell it will

Looks like she has to get the tomato cages under control before the tomatoes get to big and lanky. They grew much more than they anticipated while they were gone over the weekend and with all this sunshine coming this will be an issue. That is probably the only essential task on the list.

Dad took Mom on a road trip to Niagara Falls, they were going to go on Mom's birthday in 2011. The migraines were so intense and she was in and out of the hospital that they didn't go. Mom had her 6th round of Botox on Monday, so on Friday, they threw some things together in a bag. Mom got out our self feeders and additional water dishes while dad handled setting up two additional litter boxes for us. That is always a sign that we will be home alone when they add more litter boxes. We don't mind, if they are gone several days but longer than that, not so much.

Mom looked so exhausted when they returned but I knew they had fun because they were all snuggly with each other and laughing as they looked at the pictures on the computer that Mom had uploaded. We all love hearing her laugh with Dad, she makes such a crazy sound when she laughs.

So back to today's agenda preferably this morning before the heat gets the better of Mom. My siblings are each curled under the plants in the bed, Quasi chose the iris bed, he likes the heat more than we do. Yeats is under the peonies, bet he won't be there long once the ants start crawling on him. Really, youngsters always have to learn things the hard way.

The tomato cages were indeed tricky since she procrastinated when she originally put the plants into their containers. Mom had to do some serious lower branch pruning to get the cages around the plants. She did not expect the plants to have spread out as much as they did. The humidity was a real downer outside. We didn't hesitate when Mom said, "come on babies." Even the old man (Quasi) got up promptly and went inside.

Mom immediately topped off our water bowls with cold water, which all of us indulged. Mom drank one glass down quickly and then filled another. Is it good to drink that quickly?

I can't say I am the least bit unhappy with her closing the house up and turning on the central air on. After all that work in the garden, a nap is in order but first I better check and see what Mom is going to do next. Phew, she is making a tomato and basil salad with fresh mozzarella. She can handle that alone, I really feel the need for my nap.

So much for sleeping today, she has decided to try to vacuum the main floor. Some day's she can do that and others she can't I better keep an eye on her. She loses her balance really easy if she bends over a lot. The good doctor has not fixed that yet. Even since she fell on the ice two years ago, Mom has had issues with balance along with her migraines.

I wish Dad was home today but he had to do an errand, and see his own doctor. He doesn't let Mom vacuum anymore. That frustrates the hell out of her but it does keep her from getting hurt. Most of the time she is able to catch herself on something before she falls and give herself time to refocus. He won't be happy with her trying again when he was gone.

I'll give you one thing, she is one stubborn woman. She has not curled up in a corner because her life has changed so dramatically. She tackles things everyday, some get finished some don't. She does work at a much slower pace than the pre-fall days but all of us do slow down. Mom's time just came earlier.

Thank goodness Dad is back, now I can snooze on that comfy leather couch. It feels so good to stretch out on.