In the Netherlands: my mum

I was one hour delayed arriving in the Netherlands, but otherwise my travels went well. When I got to my mum’s, my aunt was still there. It was lovely to see her! But then I wanted to get to my mum. My aunt understood, so I barged into the bedroom. It was so good to see her! 

Reaching the Netherlands 

My mum looked so frail! I was glad to be there. But after the initial meeting I waved off my aunt. She had to get home. 

I took my usual place in the spare room. And I could fill my mum’s glass of water, help her get up to drink it, do shopping, make her an occasional sandwich, and things like that. I also popped to a local medical centre to see if there were any aids I could rent or borrow. And I had a set of keys cut for my other aunt (with my mum’s permission, of course). In the meantime, my sister was organising a trip over. 

The local medical centre

My mum appreciated the visits but didn’t understand the fuss. What was the problem; she could still get to the loo! What more did she need? That her going to the loo was very precarious, and bound to go catastrophically wrong sooner or later, was neither here nor there in her opinion. And that I struggled to imagine her successfully fetching her own glass of water didn’t strike her as relevant either. 

She clearly also couldn’t clean the house or do laundry or any of that anymore. She didn’t even know where her glasses were. But she claimed she was fine. My mum, stubborn? Surely not. 

This was going to be an interesting visit! But I was really glad I was there…