Mom is Better

It happened fast. One minute she was lying in the hospital bed, weak and gray and hoarsely whispering, asking pathetically for a sip of water, and the next she was sitting up and commanding the nurses and her entourage of children with the aplomb of General Patton. The doctor kicked her out of the hospital this morning. This move has thrown us all into a tizzy. It's not that we wanted her to be gone or anything, but for weeks now we've all been living on the edge of our seats, or, more properly, what so frighteningly seemed like the edge of her deathbed, and going from tearful farewells to Why has noone watered the roses? and Go to the grocery store and get me some Greek yogurt is kind of a shock. A good shock, but a shock nevertheless. She's at home, and my brothers and I are not sure what to do next, except that we feel she shouldn't be left alone, which irritates her intensely. It irritates all of us, actually, since it's now been two weeks of enforced family togetherness, and that's some kind of record. We are fond of one another, you know, you might even call it family love, but two weeks is asking a lot. It's possible that we've never all been together for two continuous weeks - and counting - and even if we have, it certainly hasn't been in the last 30 years. Which may explain why a seemingly innocuous conversation like today's "Who was the best family dog?" could so quickly become so riddled with rancor.

But anyhow, thank you all so much, for the prayers and the thoughts and the kindnesses, the books and the flowers and the love. It has all meant so much to me and I believe from the bottom of my heart that it's what turned the tables around. Even if Mom is saying now that she knew perfectly well it wasn't her time to go and she doesn't understand why we were all making such a fuss about nothing, there were some moments over the last 14 days when we came very close to losing her. So thank you, because I'm not ready to lose my mother. Anyway, next year she'll be turning 80 on 7/7/07 and we all want to see that.

Not to mention 7/7/06, which is Friday, and her birthday, at which she had damn well better appreciate her $10 can of soup. My mother, on her supposed deathbed, had been waxing nostalgic for the freaky soups of her misspent youth. Soups I've never heard of, which frankly sound utterly gruesome, Consomme Madrilene and Tomato Aspic and gross mid century gracious living stuff like that. So, the other day, worried and freaking out about her, I found a super gourmet online soup store (yes, the dot coms linger on, do they not? Even past their life span and beyond; there's something for everyone on the internets) and I ordered her these soups of youth. I was so worried that not only did I order the $13 three soup gift basket (yes, math fans, that's $4 per can, slightly more than Campbells, mmm hmm) but I sprang for the two day shipping. That brought my total up to $30 - I just paid TEN AMERICAN DOLLARS PER CAN OF SOUP. I have clearly lost my mind, and my mom is getting three cans of soup for her birthday. It better be good.