The West Commences: The gorging season is over

It’s 10:45 on Saturday, December 28, 2013. I’m sitting in the dining room at mom and dad’s while they have a morning nap. We are going to go to the mall they always used to go to so that mom can see the changes that have been made to it recently and buy new underwear. She’s quite excited about the trip, dad less so, but we will go out for lunch after shopping; I think he’s with us for that. It’s a bright sunny day, which bodes well, but whenever I’m on an outing with mom and dad I have a flutter of apprehension in the pit of my stomach until it is over without either argument or incident.

I’ve been checking the weather and ‘drive B.C.’ and the best day to go back to Vernon seems to be tomorrow, so I plan to leave early in the morning as there will be no commuter rush on a Sunday and they say the early ferries are the easiest to get on in the holiday season. I want to be finished driving by dark.

We had fun on Christmas morning unwrapping the big boxes, tasting the treats from Korea and trying on the clothes. We had the traditional eggs baked with black forest ham in muffin tins and some tiny cinnamon buns that mom loves. Mom and dad stayed in the gowns Bill gave them all day and I went for a good walk by the ocean and then cooked the turkey. The dinner was good, but we all preferred the leftovers on Boxing Day. I went with Barbara and Terry to The Moon under Water brewpub on Bay Street for lunch yesterday. The oyster sandwich washed down with a Tranquility IPA was a pleasant change from turkey and the pressures of parents.

Now I’m back from my last walk by the ocean. Mom and dad are still resting after our successful excursion to the mall. Against all odds, we found the underwear mom wanted. I dropped them at the main door of Sears and parked the car. By the time I got back, they were already on the job. Dad had stationed himself by the entrance, where he planned to walk around and rest on the walker as he waited for us. Mom had decided that she would be most likely to get help from a woman in the bra department if she were alone and old, with a cane. She was right. Meanwhile, I went off on the much less important search for two pairs of full size white cotton panties. Fortunately mom has given up on the quest for bloomers to replace the ones she got when her mom died and that she has worn ever since. She will continue wearing the last pair of them and now has the ‘boot top’ long johns that I bought her at MEC the other day. All was bought and paid for within 45min. We returned to the entrance to Sears to find dad resting on his walker, gazing at the forest of racks full of colorful bras. He was awed by the variety and the size of some of them. Mission accomplished without incident, we drove to the Marina for lunch. I had another Fanny Bay oyster sandwich; mom and dad ate mushroom, bacon and blue cheese burgers.

We were so full from lunch that for dinner we had tea and Christmas sweets. Now I’m back at Barbara and Terry’s. The gorging season is over without major incident. We ended on a high note, agreeing that we would all soldier on in 2014. This can’t continue forever. Sadly, I think mom’s lymphoma is going to be the final straw. Dad is in better shape than he was in April, but she is weaker; it doesn’t take much to make her breathless. She still has moments when she says that she doesn’t want ‘to miss a trick’ (she’s thinking only of bridge when she says this), but they’re fewer and farther between.

I feel guilty about leaving mom and dad, but I think they still need some time to assess their situation and accept the changes that face them. They seem to have a similar idea. Dad said something the other day about enjoying the holiday and thinking about things next year. We’re settling for the Scarlet O’Hara plan again.