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Mom is sleeping in the room a few feet away. I'm pleased she's still slumbering because she was not feeling great yesterday. "Overextended herself the day before," it seems. (Tee hee.)

Some things never change.

I cruised into western Kansas yesterday afternoon and there she was, perched in her zero gravity chair in the front room waiting. She'd been waiting all day for my arrival. It's quite reminiscent of her mother, my grandma Esther, waiting for me to stop by and visit on an afternoon trip back to college. She is more like grandma everyday, and that's a good thing... means she's got a lot of fight.

It's odd being home with a disorderly house greeting you. I guess I must've grown up somewhere in the last year (a little gift of being a New Yorker is that you don't have to grow up), because I took to task on a variety of things... watering zucchini, watching for giganto grass spiders in the giganto grass, giving the dog an impromptu bath with vanilla shea butter doggie soap, running errands for cleaning supplies and food items.

I was initially exasperated at the heat here! But it's a familiar atmosphere. I settled right in.

Deb came over and taught me how to put mom's dressing on. I confess that my tummy lurched a few times over at the incision site. Mom can't look at it while it's being dressed. She stares up at the ceiling with her teensy stick thin arms extended above and behind her head to support it. Much of her swelling is gone except for her torso. I suspect that swelling is not related as much to water weight as it is to her internal organs still facing trauma.

I'm happy to know I'll spend the next three weekends here with her, and can mow the grass, fold laundry and cook so daddy doesn't have to stress about it when he gets home late in the evening.

It's clear that mom's support system has done nothing but grow. There are mountains of cards spilling out of every room. Flower arrangements grace tables. The fridge is packed with fruits, veggies and other healthy yums. We had a really great dinner last night and I finally met a couple great friends of mom and dad. Speaking of paps, he walked in around 8:30 PM looking absolutely wild -- his shock white hair is longer, unruly with curls and big. He was bright red, and I scolded him about sunscreen. For a cancer survivor, he should be more careful about taking care of his skin. It's the largest organ in the body and melanoma is not on our wish list this year. After the scolding, though, I gave him a big hug and we chatted for a bit after mom went to bed. I'm giving his hair a trim tonight for sure.

Today the goal is a shower. I'll get her up and waterproof the incision site before scrubbing her little back. I'm a thrift-store junkie (fine, I admit I shop... a lot, but I'm cost conscious and have no problem matching a nice vintage shirt with a ten dollar pair of shorts), and mums received a brand new wardrobe yesterday of summer dresses, so we'll outfit her for the day, too.

It's a big unusual for me to spend this much time in Ulysses, or even in Kansas for that matter. I don't know that I've slept in my old bed this much since... early college? With the addition of my wedding bouquet, my room remains the same as when I was 19 years old.

I sleep quite well here.

PS: bear with the Go Yellow Friday banner. I left my Photoshop laptop back home, and can't change it out. Oh well. We'll go yellow all weekend.