Mom and Me

Got Wine...For Christmas

Several days ago Mom asked me, "Michael, when is Christmas?"

Uhm...in about five days.  Why do you ask?

"I'm ready for all the damn Ho-Ho-Ho music to go away!"

I understand.

"No really, why do they have to play this stuff non-stop for months? It take the specialness of the holiday away."

I get it.

But, don't think Mom is a scrooge.  She was up for a party on Christmas Eve.  Michael and Jody and Tina came over to the house.  Michael cooked and Mom had some wine!

Not kidding!  Dressed in her holiday gear she had a great time clowning around with us.

Family, friends, good wine, great food...yep...we'll take this holiday.

Merry Christmas to you and yours

And...so it goes.

Been A Tough Couple of Weeks...

This is my bed and has been for the past two weeks.  It's been quite a time.

Mom had panicked early in the morning fearing she would not get her meds on time and called 911. We live about four blocks away but she was scared and so was I when the Windsor Heights Police knocked on our door at 4:45AM. She was admitted to the hospital for observation and her back pain. Then three days later she was released from Mercy West Lakes.  Clearly we could not leave her alone at night so...I moved in.

Meanwhile we made application for a wheel-chair because walking is so painful.  She was denied by Medicare because we were honest and said we were going to use it to go places...like the doctor, dentist, etc.  They don't allow such luxury's.  Ten minutes after we got the denial I turned to Facebook and asked my friends there if anybody knew of somebody that had one.  Within twenty-minutes my dear friend Kiley Stenberg said she had one for me. The sad part about that was that Kiley's father had been using the transfer-chair but had just, seven weeks ago, died. "I want to make sure somebody that is in need can use it.  This is perfect." When I picked it up we both cried a little.

It's so tough watching parents decline but it happens all the time.

Mom thinks the gift was really nice but can't quite figure out why somebody she doesn't know would do it. "You have some amazing friends Michael."  I know Mom...good night.

And...so it goes.

  

Mom & Her Kringle...

When I was a boy I remember the times we would travel from Detroit to  Racine, Wisconsin to gather at the ancestral home of my parents.  They both...smoked...so the drive during the winter months was, shall we say "foggy".  In the summer, because Mom thought air-conditioning was a waste of energy, the drive was hot and windy.

One of the treats we would get from my Danish grandmother was...kringle.  It came from Larsen's or Hansen's bakery in West Racine.

Last week I was in Grinnell visiting with my friend Dave Jones the president of the Grinnell State Bank and noticed this sign.  I asked Dave about the place and he said, "Gosh, that has been here for years.  I remember going there as a kid a loading up on all sorts of goodies." 

We walked over to the Danish Maid Bakery where I met Suzi Hansen and I told her my Racine story. She said, "That is where we're from.  My husband's grandfather started Hansen's Bakery in Racine."  Imagine my shock.  We talked about "the old days" and she shared with me the framed license her husband's grandfather got from the the State of Wisconsin to open the bakery in 1919.  The address was 1312 Washington Avenue very near to where my Mother once lived.

I tried to buy the last almond kringle she had but Suzi insisted that it was a gift for Mom.

When I got back to Des Moines, kringle in hand, and shared the story with Mom her eyes lit up and she said, "My, what a small world.  I remember them well. But, what in the world are they doing in Grinnell, Iowa?  That doesn't sound very Danish to me."

And...so it goes.