Monday, May 09, 2005

Meet the Mom

I worked long-term adolescent psych Saturday night, 11pm to 7am. Kind of a strange prelude to Mother's Day as most of these kids don't have a mom (or dad, for that matter) who cares or is involved. The few that did were getting passes off the floor to visit a mom or a grandmother on Sunday; I can only imagine how the ones left behind felt about that.

A few of the kids have discovered that if they make abuse allegations about the people who work on the unit, that all kinds of havoc and trouble ensue...and since they mostly long for attention, good or bad, it's become a popular pastime. So none of us made rounds by ourselves; always two or more at a time -- one nurse in the hall watching another nurse with a flashlight make sure that all kids are breathing, in no distress, and in the correct beds.

The Plan for Sunday was that my brother, sister, and I would all go to Mom's for Mother's Day; it's been a tough year for all of us, but particularly for her, and we wanted to make it special.

I asked Rog to go with me...it's only been a month, but he's become a very important person in my life already. It's a little scary, but mostly it's wonderful and amazing, and I feel very lucky...in fact, I feel like I won the life lottery.

Rog agreed to go with me to meet my entire family...and then he also drove both ways (about 5 hours total)...since I was tired from working and my hip is still painful. And then he made Mom (and me) cry. He had drawn a pencil sketch of Dad, framed the original for me, and gave Mom a copy. Mom loves it. And it is wonderful; Dad gazes serenely out of the paper and right into your eyes, a bit of a smile on his face, as though to say, "It's going to be all right."

I'm crying again as I write this. But it's a good thing.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rog sounds like a great guy!! What a wonderful gift for you and your mom.

Jay said...

Aw, that's almost too sweet.

Penelope Marzec said...

Wow! What a thoughtful guy--and talented, too.

Rhodester said...

you realize that NOW you have to scan that and get it posted.. we wanna see!

Jodie said...

You're right, Dave! And there he is.

Wyrfu said...

That is really great, Jodie. I'm glad it's happening for you and that Rog seems such a nice guy. Better warn him that if he puts a foot wrong, there'll be an lot of angry bloggers gunning for him. ;)

Jodie said...

Thanks, Gone! :D I think he is just as smitten with me as I am with him.

Anonymous said...

Roger sounds like a good guy. When I first saw the sketch it left me speechless and I also started crying. I'm happy for you Aunt Jodie.