This entry about mom does not have to do with bears she has come in contact with, but is about the three bushes she confronted in her front yard.
Unable to see clearly through her front windows, she decided to attack the three bushes that obstructed her view. She equipped herself with hedge clippers and who knows what else in the way of rusty tools and proceeded to saw and chop. The hedges got the best of her and after hacking and chopping she succumbed, fell into the jagged bushes and sustained some mighty severe bruises.
She appeared haggard and weak when I came for a visit. I consulted with my siblings and made a decision to take her with me for some tender loving care. Naturally, she protested. I countered with, "only for a week, Ma, until you get stronger".
Not having told a soul about her ordeal, I did not discover the bruises until a day later when she removed her sweater. Imagine the shock of seeing massive bruises on both shoulders, gash on her head, a black and blue that started at her forehead and ran down her face and around her ear.
After informing my sibs about all this, I called an ambulance and off she went to the emergency and then the hospital for a four day stint. The nurses and doctors could not believe the fall she sustained, and the strength and good health of this nonagenarian.
It is some kind of miracle that she lived through this. The condition of her house was deemed as uninhabitable for a 96 year old. She now lives with me, gets three meals a day, (she eats like a horse) bathed regularly, visits from the visiting nurse association, therapy sessions and is thriving.
I'm sure she misses her back yard with the bears, vegetable garden, all her flowering shrubs, peach trees and more, but at her age she was unable to eat properly, care for herself, and get up and down stairs.
She is a joy to be around. With all the caring she has done for the family and many many others, it is about time that she has the catering she deserves.
My grand desire is to be able to make her house livable and see her back with the bears. This is a tall order. The house will need major reconstruction, a bedroom with bathroom built on the first floor, a shoring up of her broken floor and new walls. Her two daughters will take turns staying with her at all times and will require a decent bedroom on the second floor. Her son lives in a house behind her and can assist, too.
