Mom's Party

Well, I told you last week, that my mom was torn between wanting to have her Independence Day party or cancelling it. One of her girlfriends advised her not to, because she didn't know how Dad would be doing that night. She called me and I told her that she should definitely have the party!! So she went ahead with the plans. They have a neighbor across the street that is one of their "adoptees" - Mike just loves them, and they, him! He has a beautiful antebellum home with a patio and back yard made for entertaining. He offered his patio for the party and the event was on!

Mom's parties are easy, and sort of do-it-yourself. She provides home-squeezed lemonade, coffee and dessert. Everyone brings an appetizer of some sort and a beverage if they choose. All the food is set out on a wonderful built-in serving counter out by the pool and the party is on! We took Ron and Chris (our hosts from our "homeless" days) with us and I imagine there were probably 40 - 50 people there! Dad came over for about 3 hours and really enjoyed himself. He coughs if he talks too much, but everyone understood and just carried the conversations with minimal verbiage on his part.

Mom gets everyone involved, and after the eating frenzy slowed a bit, Mike, being Irish and a bit of an extrovert obliged her request to bring us a poem! He has the ability to memorize long passages and delivers them with a flair that is mesmerizing!! Hubby sang a song, another friend brought her ukulele and we all sang with her. Ron and Chris and hubby and I sing in a group together - and since all 4 parts were represented, we sang a couple of gospel songs. Mike's renter plays the part of the Genie in Aladdin at Disneyland and had a wonderful voice and sang a couple of songs for us too! Mike entertained us with a few more recitations and we took a break for cake!

Dad was getting weary about that time, so hubby walked across the street with him and helped him transfer from his portable oxygen to the stationary one. He was tired, but breathing easily and had enjoyed himself thoroughly! Hubby came back over, and folks were starting to pack up what they had brought to start leaving for home. Mike wanted hubby and I & Ron and Chris to sing again, so we gathered around the fire pit and sang an arrangement of Jesus Loves Me that is acapella and really pretty - pretty soon we had about 10 of us standing around the pit singing anything we could come up with! Old standard hymns, Beach Boys songs, Kingston Trio (Sorry - you may not be old enough to remember some of these - but they were "our" songs!!), old camp songs, show tunes - - it went on for almost an hour!! We had sooo much fun!!

We finally ran out of songs and it was getting late, so we helped mom take the last of the stuff home and said bye to dad and headed for home. It was such a great evening!!

Mom's friend stopped me on the way out after the party and thanked me for pushing her to go ahead with the plans. She had advised her not to earlier in the week and said that her advice had been wrong - she realized that it was exactly what mom and dad both needed!

I talked to mom yesterday, and she thanked me again for talking her into having the party. It has given them a bright and happy thing to think about and talk about. They have been a bit isolated the last few weeks - and they are such "people people" - They needed it a lot more than they realized!

Dad is having steroid shots about every 3 or 4 days. They help him breathe, and Dr. M comes right to the house to give them to him - the man is just wonderful!! He has promised to be there for mom through this whole thing. He has given her so much more confidence - she doesn't feel like they are at the mercy of a distracted medical group - but he is someone she knows and trusts!! We don't know yet if The Pills are doing anything. Dad will go back to the oncologist later this month for more tests to find out if they are working.

Thanks for your continued prayers for them - they are depending on God for His strength!