Mom, we have indoor plumbing

Istiqlál (Independence), 18 ‘Ilm (Knowledge), 169 BE – Friday, November 2, 2012 about 10:35 A.M. Pacific Time

This morning, after I got Mom out of bed and into the living room, she asked to go to the bathroom. Before taking her in the bathroom, I had to put the Gate belt (this is the belt I use to help transfer to from one piece of furniture to another) on. Next, I took her walker into the bathroom because I need it to help transfer her from place to place. After that, I took Mom into the bathroom and got her situated on the proper piece of equipment.

Mom suffers from Alzheimer's disease, which affect her memory and her emotions. Mom go angry and kept insisting she wanted to go to the bathroom. I explained that we were in the bathroom and also about the toilet. She kept insisting that we were not in the bathroom and that she was not sitting on the toilet.

"Mom," I said, " where do you want to go?"

"Outside," she replied.

That is when I realized that Mom thought we had an outhouse rather then an indoor toilet. I said, "Mom, we now have indoor plumbing." It took me a while to convince her that we did not need to go outside to find the bathroom, but eventually she accepted the fact. However, I am now convinced that Mom thinks she still lives on a farm in Oklahoma. Mom was born and raised on a farm, so this belief makes sense when I consider that she is slowly forgetting the present.

I remember Sunday afternoon with my Grandparents

Jamál (Beauty), 5 Sharaf (Honor), 165 BE – Sunday, January 4, 2009 about 7:14 AM Pacific Time

It is January. It is winter. I am remembering a Sunday afternoon in summer that I spent with my Grandparents. It was a Fourth of July holiday and we were waiting for sunset to "set off the fireworks". We were staying at the lot they rented on Lake Blackwell for the night. Grandma and Grandpa had a "trailer house" (most people call them mobile homes anymore) on that lot.

I remember the mobile home had a bathroom, but when we used the toilet, we had to go to a wooden outhouse. I think we could take a cold shower in the bathroom, but I am not sure about that because I was a child and the events occurred a long time ago. I remember the outhouse because there were spider webs in it and I was afraid of spiders.

As I said, it was a Fourth of July holiday and we were waiting for Sunset. My siblings and I were setting off firecrackers. In addition, Grandpa took us in his motor boat for a ride up and down the lake. Grandpa water-skied that day as well, but the real excitement would come after sunset when we set off the "real" fireworks.

Waiting for sunset
we passed time lighting
firecrackers and skiing.

I am working on a group of poems about my childhood and my grandparents. I also think I will write a poem about the outhouse. Most places have indoor plumbing anymore and outhouses are things of the past. I think we need to remember them.

The wooden outhouse
had spiders and smelled
the spiders made me nervous.