Art Attack Central

Fixing stuff, myself included…


Mile Post 200

It was an odd day. It was a somewhat depressing day. It was a day of endings and new beginnings. It was a day for watching the odometer turn over from 189999 to 190000.

What really happened?

I went with my parents to see the apartment they will be moving to in a “retirement community.” The condo they’ve been living in for the last 20 years is on the market; they’re making (keep, give, throw) decisions based on how much will fit in the smaller space. We all know that this is the last place they will live. They are so upbeat about the move, and I’m doing my best to be “happy for them” as well, and doing a damn good job of it. But, it’s painful, as painful as the arthritis in my mother’s hands. She said last night, “my thumbs are so swollen, and my hands are so painful these days. I just seem to be falling apart.” She showed me her hands; the knuckles were knobby and twisted, and her thumbs were enlarged. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed this last week, or the week before. She said as she showed me, “I hold them like this so no one notices; I used to have such beautiful hands.” My mother resembles Katherine Hepburn; she looks like her now, and she looked like her when she was a young women as well.

What else happened?

I’ll tell you more tomorrow; I’ve got to go now.

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