Tuesday, September 27, 2005
"You know, Mother would love this."
My mother said this between us listening to the 33th and 34th chapter of Genesis of the read-out-loud with accompanied DVD text version of the Christian KJV Bible last night. At least that's how I heard it while I was cuing the 34th chapter. "I know," I responded. "Too bad this wasn't available when she was alive."
In my peripheral vision I saw Mom's head swivel sharply toward me, pause, then turn back to the TV. Oops, I realized, she'd said, "would" rather than "would've". She was thinking again that her mother was alive. I briefly imagined where the conversation might have gone if I hadn't restarted the DVD so quickly. It occurred to me that Mom may have said something along the lines of, "We should call her and invite her over for this in the evenings."
Later, somewhere between two more chapters, she repeated her comment in a slightly different manner. This time I just said, "Yes, I know," and let it go. I figured no more discussion would be forthcoming or necessary since we were still deep into our separate understanding and images of the text being read.
My maternal grandmother pursued life-long study of Christianity and its Bible right up the the time she was overtaken by severe dementia in her late 80's. Several of her ancestors, including her father, were Methodist ministers or otherwise involved professionally in Christianity. My mother, once she lived close enough, participated in some of the courses (both other and self-directed) with her mother. She also has an abiding interest in the intricacies of both Christianity and its sacred texts. So do I, although from a decidedly non-Christian perspective, which is why I love participating with my mother in our current pursuit of orally/visually guided exploration of the Christian Bible. Even before Mom mentioned her mother last night I suspected that she was thinking of her a lot as we listened and read each chapter. Last night proved me right.
I think tonight as we indulge in the listening and discussion which has become an almost nightly habitual pleasure for both of us, when Mom mentions, which she surely will, that "Mother would love this," I'll say, "Mom, although she's passed on, consider that she is enjoying this with us. After all, there are no longer any geographical barriers to her being with you. Since we can't safely assume that there are any barriers separating her from us let's figure that she's here, continuing her study, reaping as much reward from this version as we are."
This is, after all, the one way the dead remain with us of which we are sure: They remain alive and well and developing in our hearts and minds. Why not take advantage of this ability to commune with the spirits of our loved ones?
We did not have an exercise session of any kind yesterday. Although Mom's nap was not inordinately long she was clearly overwhelmed by all the exercise in which she participated yesterday and loathe to move anymore so I didn't pursue it. I was just happy that she was so independently lively for so long yesterday morning and that, overall, her extra movement seemed to enspirit her.
Blood test results should be up today. I've called once and they haven't yet arrived, so I'll probably be posting them later today. I'm not expecting any problems.
In my peripheral vision I saw Mom's head swivel sharply toward me, pause, then turn back to the TV. Oops, I realized, she'd said, "would" rather than "would've". She was thinking again that her mother was alive. I briefly imagined where the conversation might have gone if I hadn't restarted the DVD so quickly. It occurred to me that Mom may have said something along the lines of, "We should call her and invite her over for this in the evenings."
Later, somewhere between two more chapters, she repeated her comment in a slightly different manner. This time I just said, "Yes, I know," and let it go. I figured no more discussion would be forthcoming or necessary since we were still deep into our separate understanding and images of the text being read.
My maternal grandmother pursued life-long study of Christianity and its Bible right up the the time she was overtaken by severe dementia in her late 80's. Several of her ancestors, including her father, were Methodist ministers or otherwise involved professionally in Christianity. My mother, once she lived close enough, participated in some of the courses (both other and self-directed) with her mother. She also has an abiding interest in the intricacies of both Christianity and its sacred texts. So do I, although from a decidedly non-Christian perspective, which is why I love participating with my mother in our current pursuit of orally/visually guided exploration of the Christian Bible. Even before Mom mentioned her mother last night I suspected that she was thinking of her a lot as we listened and read each chapter. Last night proved me right.
I think tonight as we indulge in the listening and discussion which has become an almost nightly habitual pleasure for both of us, when Mom mentions, which she surely will, that "Mother would love this," I'll say, "Mom, although she's passed on, consider that she is enjoying this with us. After all, there are no longer any geographical barriers to her being with you. Since we can't safely assume that there are any barriers separating her from us let's figure that she's here, continuing her study, reaping as much reward from this version as we are."
This is, after all, the one way the dead remain with us of which we are sure: They remain alive and well and developing in our hearts and minds. Why not take advantage of this ability to commune with the spirits of our loved ones?
We did not have an exercise session of any kind yesterday. Although Mom's nap was not inordinately long she was clearly overwhelmed by all the exercise in which she participated yesterday and loathe to move anymore so I didn't pursue it. I was just happy that she was so independently lively for so long yesterday morning and that, overall, her extra movement seemed to enspirit her.
Blood test results should be up today. I've called once and they haven't yet arrived, so I'll probably be posting them later today. I'm not expecting any problems.
