Thanksgiving Thursday 9/02/10

Wow, happy second day of September to you all.  I had a post rattling around in my head all day yesterday.  I was going to call it "Make a Wish Wednesday" and list some of the things I wish for (probably inspired by Mama Hen's post a few days ago).  Anyway, it never came to fruition, so I'll save it for another day.  Moving right along to things for which I am thankful this week.
(5) I am thankful for peanut butter.  My high school student son refuses to carry a lunch box to school--not that I'm trying to convince him to carry the old metal lunchbox with Superman flying off to save the world.  No insulated lunch box means no way to keep cold stuff cold and hot stuff hot.  Thank God he likes peanut butter because I feel much more comfortable with him eating that in place of a lukewarm ham and cheese sandwich!
(4) I am thankful for fluffy new pillows.  I bought a "two-pack" at Kohls with the kohl's cash a while back and just now got around to using one of them.  I got that "oooh, aaaah feeling" and slept like a baby.
(3) I am thankful for temperatures in the 70's and rain, glorious rain!  My 92-year-old grandmother and I went for a walk after I dropped kids off at school this morning, and it was oh-so-nice to not be drenched in sweat after the first ten paces from my driveway! I had to slow my usual pace and not walk as far or long, but it was nice to get out with her.  I just love that woman.
(2) I am thankful that my 84-yr-old father in law was not seriously injured when he fell in his apartment last week.  I went on Friday to take him to his dialysis appt, and he told me through the door that he had fallen and couldn't get himself up off the floor to get to the door.  I had no key, so I called two of my sisters-in-law only to get their voice mails.  I called the Life Alert number posted on my FIL's apt door, and they were not much help either suggesting that I call 911.  They told me to call them back and let them know how things worked out.  I told my FIL to hang on and I drove around to the apartment office where I explained the situation and burst into tears.  I was so worried about my poor, frail FIL.  The maintenance man was given a set of keys and I followed him back to the apt where the key didn't work.  I could hear my FIL still struggling to make his way to the door.  The maintenance man brought up the fact that even if we had a working key, the dead bolt was still on from inside the apt with no key access from the outside.  I gave my FIL a little more time, he was now jiggling the doorknob but couldn't reach the top dead bolt.  I called 911 and again explained the situation.  They dispatched the fire truck, and I waited.  Meanwhile I told my FIL to take off  his shoe and try to reach the lock with his shoe.  I grabbed the doorknob and pulled toward me to take the pressure off of the dead bolt. Thump. thump.thump. thump. Click!  He did it!  Of course, he was sitting in front of the door so I couldn't get in right away.  I called 911 to tell them I was in the apt.  They said the fire truck had already been dispatched, and that was fine with me because I still didn't know if I would need EMT assistance.   I couple of minutes after my FIL scooted far enough away from the door for me to get in the firefighters arrived with that huge ax and some ramrod thing and were surprised to see the door was already open.  They asked my FIL where he wanted to sit, and two of them hoisted him up and plopped him on the couch before turning around to leave and bidding us a good day.  Weren't they supposed to ask pertinent questions like if he'd lost consciousness or check him out for broken bones or something?  After they left, I checked him out for myself.  I went into the kitchen and the oven door was off of its hing and gaping open.  This alarmed me because I kept thinking of how badly he could have been hurt if he had hit his head or anything else on one of those sharp metal corners.  My FIL said he grabbed the oven door when he was falling.  As best as I can figure, my FIL must have fallen shortly after I phoned him just before 10 a.m. to tell him I was on my way.  By the time I was able to get into the apt, it was almost 11:30.  The poor man had been on the floor a good hour and a half!  I don't think I've ever felt so helpless in my life as I was listening to him on the other side of that door and not being able to get right in to him.  Needless to say,  we didn't make it to his dialysis appt but rescheduled for Saturday morning.  I fixed him some lunch, gave him his meds and pulled his walker from behind the door and observed him using it.  I asked him if he would please come home with me just for the night and I could bring him back in the morning for his dialysis.  He looked at me with the sweetest smile and said, "Maybe another time," as if he were politely turning down an invitation to go out on a date or something.  Turns out my FIL had a house key in each of his pants pockets, so I took one and told him NOT to lock the top dead bolt anymore until we could get him another one with a key access from outside.  He is doing okay.  His other daughters have been seeing to it that he gets to his appts this week.
(1) I am eternally thankful for friends and family who support and encourage and share and help and say "I love you" when you need to hear it most.