My mother’s birthday is today. When I went down to visit her and other members of the family in Charlotte, NC back in June, I was reminded of the fact that I am happy that she’s had the opportunity to get to know my daughter. This is particularly true since Lydia never got to meet my father, since he died almost four years before she was born. But it really is not adequate. Lydia knows her, and my sisters, for that matter, more from pictures than from personal relationships. Whereas my in-laws she sees with a fair frequency. At some fundamental level, I’m jealous of this fact.
My mother goes to an adult day care every weekday. I believe it has been tremendously helpful in engaging her mind, which is important at her vintage.
As I noted before, my mother, sister and niece were in a car crash a couple weeks ago. They’re OK physically. But the vehicle was totaled, and the amount of money they’ll get from the insurance will be inadequate to get as comparable used vehicle.
I was having a conversation with someone recently, and the question was whether either of us had been knocked unconscious. I had, twice. The second time was the car accident I was in when I was 19. The first was when I was pitching in a sandlot baseball game, when I was 10 or 11, and the batter, who was the older sister of one of my sister’s friends, hit the ball straight back to me, hitting me on or near my left temple. My mom stayed up with me all night, waking me up periodically to make sure that if I had a concussion, it didn’t lapse into something worse, which was the recommended treatment at the time. My parents may have called the doctor, but I’m almost positive we didn’t go to the doctor’s, but instead engaged in that course of treatment. I’m sure she did lots of other things that moms unselfishly do, but this is the strongest recollection that came to mind. 
These pictures were taken in the Bojangles Coliseum parking; my niece Alex’s high school graduation was held at the center.
ROG
