Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Keeping Pace With a Powerhouse

I began yesterday in the company of my oh-so-enthusiastic oldest granddaughter. Within the space of two hours, I picked her up from her dorm, took her to breakfast, shopped with her for an umbrella and rain boots, shopped for fish at a food market, and dropped her back on her campus. I ended the day with my mountain mama and the fine folks of the Coker Creek Ruritan club, most of whom are long retired. Mountain Mama spent much of her time talking with the second oldest member of the club, a mere ninety years old, three years her junior.

Upon my awakening this morning, Mountain Mama had coffee brewing, bacon almost done, and slices of Mary Sue's homemade bread ready for toasting. She allowed me at the stove to fry our eggs to order, the eggs being those that she brought in from her hen house last evening. She was then ready to get our day started.

We began with her insistance that we invite a few friends over for supper. Josie and Adam weren't even awake yet, but I fixed that with my phone call. Meanwhile, Mamie made phone calls to ascertain whether the family that is slated to rent one of her apartments is ready to move in. When she and I both received affirmative answers, we had missions to accomplish. It was first time to remove all the Mamie's dishes and linens out of the apartment to make room for those of the new family.

We swept the garage floor to ready it for storage and made many trips up and down the steep stairs from the garage to the apartment. We moved furniture, swept floors, and changed lightbulbs. She, thankfully, allowed me to be her pack mule up and down the stairs, but much to my dismay, she insisted on climbing on chairs and a step ladder to reach a couple of things for herself. I was thrilled when, after two hours, she decided that we needed to take a break.

Our break lasted all of ten minutes; then it was time to start thinking about our supper menu. Since slaw was in the offing, this led to a trip to the garden to pull up some carrots. I needed to go to town for some prescriptions, so we made a grocery list. Mamie broke off from washing carrots long enough to have a bite of lunch, after which I drove to the next-door post office for her mail. I know she'll always take a break to read her mail, and I really like to encourage her not to exhaust herself. When I returned with her mail after ten minutes, she had already put on the iced tea for tonight.

What a whirling dervish she still is, even at ninety-three. I was happy to have a good excuse to drive around for a while; I needed a rest. I'm sure we'll both be beating the pots and pans when I return to her house.