Paybacks are hell

I sometimes have these fleeting moments when I wonder if perhaps Mom is faking it and she really isn't as gone as we think she is. I wonder if, perhaps, this is her form of payback.

Things are slowly returning to normal at our house, or better said, we are adjusting to our new normal. It's all about routine. Up in the morning, help Mom choose her clothes for the day (which I know she will change at least three times throughout the day), out for coffee, pick up the mail, come home, dust and sweep the house, fix lunch, work in the garden, putter around the house, fix dinner, do dishes, watch TV, go to bed.

It's a routine and change is not a good thing.

Yesterday I drove to Hartford to pick up a table and chairs I saw on Craig's List. I had an idea to convert it to some outdoor furniture. I want to create a quiet spot in the backyard where I can sip ice tea and read my Kindle -- should the mosquitoes ever go away.

Mom is always up for a ride, in fact she really likes to ride around aimlessly. So I loaded Mom and our granddaughter, who is on crutches, into the car and we took off for Hartford. Things were fine until we loaded the furniture into the car. The questions began. Telling her I was going to convert it to outdoor furniture didn't mean anything to her.

Unloading it and placing it outside the door was not a good thing either.

"Are you going to leave it outside?" "Do you want me to help you bring it in?" "Do you think it's time for us to take it inside?" "Why is it still outside?"

King warned me before he went to bed I was not to bring the furniture in to appease Mom.

And I didn't. But Mom was up early and the questions began again. Same questions, part two.

After our routine trip to the post office and to get coffee she started asking me when were we going to do something with the furniture rather than when were we going to bring it inside.

"I'll get to it Mom. Not right this second, but I'll get to it when I am ready."

That's when it hit me. I have heard these words before. It was the same answer I got when I was a kid and pestered Mom for something. Was this payback of a cosmic design or was it a well-laid plan by my mother?

I have to believe it is of the cosmic design as tonight she asked me if I was going to spend the night with her or was I going to take the furniture home with me.

Yes, paybacks are hell.