Well,
it was a lean Christmas for me, however, the holidays were enriching in other
ways. I went home to Detroit, to see my mother. I
actually drove to Detroit, from Maryland under $100,
with my new car, a Chevy Cruze. Yes, that includes tolls for the Pennsylvania and Ohio
Turnpike. I only
filled up my tank twice and I brought some food with me on my trip, so I wouldn't eat out as much. I can't imagine how much I would have saved if
it was a Hybrid. I expected
to save some money, but to travel 594 miles on less than $100 is pretty
impressive. My mother and I
spent a lot of time together. She
has been in a serious car accident and is going to physical therapy. Also, she can’t drive. This has been very difficult for her,
because she just retired and her plans weren't to spend her first year disabled. She tore her ligaments in her
shoulders and she re injured her back. My
mother is a classic Type A personality and this has been a drastic and
depressing change for her. This
Christmas was somewhat somber, but enlightening, also there was some humor in
it as well. For Christmas,
I bought my mother a new jogging suit. It wasn't very fancy, it was blue (her favorite color) and I knew she needed it
for exercising and it is easy to put on in the morning for physical therapy. I also drove her around most of the
holiday. I didn't mind,
because she has been depending on others and her insurance company, AAA, well…,
let’s just say they are aptly named. They
only give her a stipend of $20/day for someone to do errands and help around
the house. And, even though
the economy is pitiful in Detroit,
it is still hard to find help. Sometimes
we were doing errands for 8 hours, now we did get to go out to eat as well, but
mostly we were trying to get tasks completed. The one thing that I didn't expect in
spending all of this time with my mother is that I didn't expect her to admit
her faults without provocation. My
mother actually admitted that she was harder on raising me than my grandmother
was on raising her. She
also said that she didn't know why. One
theory that she had is that she really grew up as an only child and my
grandmother had 2 younger siblings. She
thinks that it made my grandmother more patient with little kids. I don’t know if that was the reason or
not, but I appreciated the fact that she admitted it. She even admitted to sometimes being
an "A". Once again, I was surprised, because it was volunteered. I, like a lot of people have had
issues with my mother, and I doubt that they will end, or that we will never
have problems again. But it
was surprising to think that she actually reflected on events and saw them from
a different perspective than her original one. It also gave me hope that our
relationship may improve as the years go by, and I couldn't have asked for a
better Christmas gift.
However,
it could be those painkillers that they are giving her. Or the fact that I fell down the
stairs and bumped my head. Hmmn,
I never thought of that….
Well,
it is a new year, and 2011 kicked almost everyone’s behind (A), so I think
that I will hold out for hope.
