Things that made me smile this week and how the cat saved my life.

I went to the funeral of a friend's mother this week.  I had met her mother once and at the same time, I met her mother's friends.  These were friends she had had since the 1950s.  When they arrived, I was introduced to each of them and then they went and greeted my friend's mother and introduced themselves.  They introduced themselves because my friend's mom had Alzheimer's so badly that she didn't remember her friends with whom she had been friends for 60 years.  That kindness, that seemed so natural, made me smile and stuck with me so much that I even mentioned it to one of them when I saw her at the funeral.  She just smiled and said, "I didn't mind having to introduce myself, once I did, she remembered for the rest of the day."

Which made me think of Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's husband who also has Alzheimer's.  He apparently has fallen in love with a woman at the nursing home he where he lives and his wife is thrilled.  Here is a link if you are interested in reading about that:

John O'Connor's Girlfriend

On a totally side note, the men I met that day also made us breakfast...is that the meal that is the purview of men?  They barbecue or make breakfast when they cook?  I wonder why that is...

These were people who had been married since the 1950s and you hear in our circles about how marriages worked back then.  Well, the dead woman apparently did something due to depression (although back then they probably didn't recognize it as that) that endangered one of her children.  Apparently her husband's cousin and her husband both gave her what for when they came home and discovered it.  The one man said he came in and saw the baby in distress, took care of her and scolded my friend's mom.  Her husband then came in, after putting away the horses (yes, more cowboys) heard about what had happened and did the same.  They all said it was the only time they ever saw him lose his temper with her and they told the story with a sad smile.

Other things that made me smile...my car has a warning that comes on when I leave my blinker on too long!  Who knew!

My cherry trees have cherries after only two years and a transplanting!  That just doesn't happen.

Okay, I guess I have built anticipation up enough, here is the cat story.

As a little, little girl, I always like small, dark places.  I would climb into the middle of clothes racks at clothing stores because it was dark and small.  Also when I was a little girl, we had a big, old, tom cat.  He was tall enough, that when I was learning to walk, he would walk next to me and I would put my hand on his back to steady myself and we would walk around together.  Well one day, my mother was outside weeding the flower bed and I decided that I wanted to get into the refrigerator because it was small and dark.  I thought it was a great idea, our cat, my walking buddy, was of the opinion that it was NOT a good idea, so he ran outside to where my mother was working and then ran to the door and then back to her (and no, the cat's name was not Lassie and mine is not Timmy), My mom, curious about why our cat was acting so strangely, stood up and followed him into the house, where the cat ran directly to the refrigerator.  She heard me knocking on the door and found me inside. I am sure my mother would never have thought to look there if she couldn't find me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!