visiteurs

It's been raining cats, dogs, rhinoceroses, and elephants for the past few minutes. The sliding glass door is currently drip-free, which seems to mean that Mr. Go's repair job is holding up fine. We'll see how it lasts through several more intense downpours.

Later today, Mom's got some visitors coming-- coworkers from her old job at NALC. They'll be dropping by to sit and talk with Mom for a while.

Such visits do Mom a world of good, I think. It's a chance for her to do something other than sit quietly and watch TV or listen to classical music. Mom's always been a far more sociable creature than I am; as Keirsey and Bates wrote in their book Please Understand Me, extroverts derive their energy from others. Leaving Mom in isolation would be the absolute worst thing to do to her; it would cut her off from a source of joy and motivation. Over the past few months Mom has also, fortunately, lost much of her self-consciousness about both her condition and her helmet. This helps: while she's always appreciated visits, she's less apprehensive about receiving visitors now because she's no longer as worried about how she looks.

It's conceivable that, at some point down the line, we might relax our "call at least 24 hours before visiting" rule (which has been ignored by quite a few people). We instituted the rule mainly for Mom, because of the stress she was feeling when people came to visit. Visits are still draining for her, but the fact that's she's more open to them indicates that the stress is disappearing. However, the rule wasn't put in place only for Mom's benefit: we two guys, Dad and I, also prefer some advance notice because it gives us time to tidy up the house and maybe even prep something for groups of visitors to eat and drink. Simply popping up unannounced has always felt rude to me, no matter the good intentions behind the faux pas.

So the rule remains in place for now. My heartfelt thanks to all those who have been considerate about informing us before visiting. You make life a lot easier for us.

Whoa-- the rain just stopped.


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