2017 is not going so well so far for me. So much is going on right now in the family. In the country. In the world. It is hard to breathe.
A couple of weeks ago my 92 year old mom became quite ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized for well over a week. I really never thought she would survive as she was in dire straights. Her lungs were filled with fluid and her kidneys stopped functioning. But my mom rallied! She is now in the same facility as my dad. We are hoping that they will give her a permanent room there so she can at least go visit him every day. My 96 year old dad is not doing well at all. His dementia is worsening every day. During my mom's illness my beloved aunt from California came to visit. She too thought my mom was at the end of her life and she wanted to see her sister one more time.
When she went to see my dad, he did not know who she was. That was really hard for us. We went out in the hall and cried our eyes out together. They had always been close.
So I have been bringing clothes over to both of them. As well as things they will need to cozy up the rooms as much as they can be made to look cozy. Not that easy as the rooms are really small. I have been checking their mail every day over at the apartment. We also have to figure out what to do with all their possessions. They have a lot of stuff crammed into that apartment. The first thing I need to do and do soon is clear out all the food before it goes bad and starts to smell.
And as you can tell by now I have not been able to do any art really. Although I had signed up for something called Lifebook2017. I was not sure if this was anything I would like but I have been pleasantly surprised. The class is about self love really. And being kind to yourself as well as making art. We get a new project each week for one year. These will become pages in our life book which we will bind at the end of the year.
Last weeks class was really interesting. We had to make a story board using stick figures. We had to tell a story in 3 frames. The teacher, Mandy, encouraged us to draw about something that was hard for us to speak about. There were some pretty powerful stories from my class mates. The example that Mandy used was how she felt nothing when her grandmother died. Talk about sharing a powerful feeling. I adored my grandmother so I thought her story was pretty heartbreaking.
I did have my own grandmother story to tell though. You can see it above. No explanation needed!