A Full Agenda

We have decided that Mom has to be OK because we have lots of things to do. First will be a camping trip. My sister and I did NOT get our love of camping from our mother. It's not that she minds the great outdoors. She just likes it in small doses and she likes to make sure that all of life's modern conveniences are at her fingertips.

But I am convinced that she just hasn't done camping right. Heck, I'm not even sure she has ever gone camping. We are going to fix that. She will experience: sitting around the campfire, marshmallow fights, a perpetual layer of sand on her feet, middle of the night treks to the bathroom, hiking in the woods, eating food cooked over a campfire. Heck, maybe she'll hate it. I'll gladly suffer her bitching up a storm just to have her out there with us once.

Second event on the agenda is my daughter's wedding in October. We both have a vital role to play at this wedding. I have to run around frantically the day of the wedding and make sure everything is going OK, (I really have to practice for this one because I am by nature the type of person who takes it as it comes and doesn't panic). Mom's job is to sit back and soak up the adulation for having spawned such a large, vibrant brood of people. She must smile knowingly and near the end of the reception give Miss Erica some little bit of advice garnered from her long and successful marriage.

For these vital roles we need appropriate costumes. As soon as Mom is able there will be a shopping trip to go buy the MOB (mother of the bride) and OOB? (Oma of the bride) dresses. It will be no small feat finding tasteful, appropriate dresses that are, hopefully, not too matronly.

The coup de grâce will be a trip next summer to Norway. Mom spent a long period of time in Norway when she was around twelve. She had rheumatic fever and was sent to a convalescent hospital there. She has fond memories of the country and the people she met there. She has never been back but has always wanted to. So, Mom and I will be visiting the land of fjords, Vikings and big, blond, beautiful people. Shhh, my sister doesn't know it but she is going too. (Dad, hubby and brother-in-law are welcome to join if they like).

So this surgery and the recovery are simply minor inconveniences to be endured so we can get onto the more important engagements that await us.