Mom came to Kelowna for Easter and we had a lot of fun.  She arrived at noon on Easter Sunday and we had a lovely spa-like lunch of chopped apple topped with sunflower seeds, almonds and yogurt.  I said we have to eat like this as we have three boxes of chocolate to eat later.

We then headed out to Value Village for a bit of fun, and mom found some pants to try on.  The cubicles at Value Village are large enough for a very small woman or child to turn around in, and that’s all.  However as mom’s 89 and slightly decrepit, she said “You have to come in here and help me get these pants off and on.”

So I crammed into the changing room with mom, but of course right as I got one pair of pants off the cubicle door opened.  There were some people standing there looking at us and she and I laughed so hard we almost wept.  I don’t know why, but the thought of the people, the sight, their faces, etc.

One pair of pants fit, and she found a couple of jackets she liked, so we headed home.  I made salmon and onions in a cream sauce and put that into vol au vent shells for dinner.  Mom loves Netflix so we settled in to watch a couple of movies.

The next day we headed off to the Mennonite Thrift Store, where mom immediately pounced on some knick knacks, and then we started to look at clothes.  Suddenly mom said she felt dizzy and had to sit down.  Then she said she felt quite sick and wanted to go home and lie down.

We drove home and mom spent the afternoon on the couch with an afghan and watched some more movies.  I puttered around outside in the yard, checking in now and again.  At one point she’d had an upset stomach and then later developed a headache.

We had soup for dinner to settle her stomach a bit, then drove to the airport to pick Nicky up as his plane was landing at 7:00 PM.  He arrived right on time and said it was a pleasant surprise to see his gramma standing there as well as his mom.  He showed us an angry insect bite on his ankle, but otherwise seemed fine.

Most of Nicky’s trip seemed to involve vast amounts of alcohol and a lot of vomiting, so I said I guess it’s time to dry out a bit back at home.  He went to the clinic and was put on antibiotics for the infected insect bite of unknown origin.  That’s Thailand for you.

The next day mom got up and felt fine so she drove back to Osoyoos.  I was thinking about her symptoms, the nausea and headache, and thought I wonder if it’s due to being 89 and drinking almost an entire bottle of wine the night before?  In our family, from kid to grandparent, alcohol likes to wreak havoc.

After 36 years of constant alcohol intake, I’ve finally come to understand how much my body will take, and I now adhere to that limit due to the pain caused whenever I throw caution to the wind.  My weakened old self is a panty waist when it comes to how much I can safely consume.  Sad!