One evening, I just finished trimming mother’s fingernails, when she suddenly said “I’m going to put an advertisement in the newspaper about the lovely lady who comes and does nice things for me”. “Who is that?” I asked, thinking it may be of one mother’s support carers that I know she likes. “You” she said, pointing to me and laughing. I wondered at that moment if she remembered I was her daughter, or it was her twist of humour.
A childhood story mother wants told
Mother said one day “I wonder how I knew about God? Father didn’t believe in God after going through the war, and mother had stopped going to church years ago”. “What makes you wonder?” I asked.
Mother answered “when I was a very little girl, I remember I had this big broom and was trying to sweep the leaves off the concrete around the door out the back and I was sweeping into the wind. The leaves kept blowing back. My mother and father had walked around the house and were coming up the path. When they saw me, they asked me “what are you doing?” I answered “I’m sweeping and God keeps making the leaves come back to me. They laughed”, she said laughing at the memory.
New Year’s Eve Memories
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Mother told us that she would sit up with her mother on New Year’s Eve. They would sit and chat as she and her mother sipped a small glass of sherry. Mother and daughter waited till midnight, and then hugged and went to bed. Her Father wasn’t interested and had gone to bed. Father would be present if there were other people there.
Sometimes the English boats were in, especially when the war (WWII) was on, a lot of people would come to our house because we had such a nice house. Father was a returned serviceman in the home guard. Sometimes there would be people missing on New Year’s Eve, because some of the boats had gone down.
Seeing in the Millennium
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Mother was staying with me on holiday the year of the new Millennium, along with a family member with all her friends. it was significant for many reasons. This night I had worked late shift in our Intensive/Coronary care unit. Due to an emergency at work, I came home later than planned. I had thought about our plans to walk to town and see the New Year in at the town clock, along with the rest of the city.
Mother had arthritis in her feet and wasn't that mobile due to recent weigh gain. With permission, I borrowed a wheel chair from the hospital and took it home planning to get mother to the celebrations if possible. We had half an hour to get there. Mother was keen, but my husband thought we would never make it in time. I said "well, I'm going to try". Mother jumped up and said she was coming, so I put her in the wheel chair, and off we went.
Mother was nervous we might end up in the water as we ran down the path and over the foot bridge by the creek. I joked that we were going to put her in it, then found the wheel chair taking off with mother's weight as we went down the slight gradient. I was scared then, but never let on as mother, thinking I was doing it on purpose squealed with delight laughing. I desperately Lent back with my sneakers sliding down the path in efforts to slow down. Thankfully we didn't end up in the creek.
I needed my husband's help to push her up the other side and then ran and walked as fast as I could to try and get there in time. As the chair would suddenly come to a halt at the road crossings, due to uneven ground, I had to grab mother before she went flying out. Being a retired nurse herself, mother was used to the antics of wheelchairs and giggled all the way having a great time. My poor husband was not at all used to this and I think he was embarrassed. He joined in good humour though, by shouting out "make way for mad the women with the wheel chair", and we found the crowds parted and let us rush through.
We made it half way down the main street until we couldn't get closer due to the crowd. Then it struck midnight, announcing the year 2000 had arrived. People turned to embrace and kiss their loved ones. Mother was sitting there as my husband hugged me, and a young Maori man in dreadlocks was standing alone not far from us. He turned around, saw mother and then, to her surprise (and ours) gave her a big hug and kiss!! Well, she talks about that jokingly to this day, and she loves us teasing her about it also. It was a memorable New Year's Eve for mother, that year.
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