Wednesday, October 11, 2017

A Lucky Mistake

I left early for grandparent’s day at my grandson’s school so I could go by and visit my mom. Delays can happen when driving more than an hour, and I didn’t want to be late for the 2:10 event.

I  had called Mom as I pulled out of the driveway. “Would you like to go with me?” I asked.
She was having lunch with my younger sister. “We’ll be home by the time you get to town,” she said.

When I arrived, my mom and sister were at Mom’s house. We had a nice visit and a photo op before Mom and I headed to the school. We arrived at the school at 2:00 p.m. and I sent my daughter-in-law a quick text to double-check the grade he was in. “I think he’s in the fourth grade,” I told Mom, “but one year I showed up for grandparent’s day and went to the wrong room.”

My daughter-in-law confirmed that he was in the fourth. “We’re here!” I texted.

Mom and I walked up to the door and pushed the buzzer. “We’re grandparents,” I said. The door unlocked and we went inside. A woman behind a desk motioned for us to come inside the office.

“Grandparents day is tomorrow,” she said, holding up a flyer as proof.

Just then my phone buzzed, “Oh, no,” my daughter-in-law texted, “it’s tomorrow.”

I immediately thought of Alzheimer’s sign #4 “Confusion with time or place.”  Just as quickly I remembered that, occasionally, messing up an appointment is a normal age-related change. Whew! Dodged that bullet.

“This is what happens when you retire,” I said. “You lose track of the day of week or the date.” Today was the tenth and grandparent’s day at school was the eleventh. Close, but no horseshoe, as the old saying goes.

“You are exactly on time,” the woman said as if I needed some reassurance that I wasn’t completely in la-la land. “You’re just a day early. You can come back tomorrow.”

“I have an appointment tomorrow,” I said. Yep, for 2:15 p.m. no less.

“We have practice tomorrow,” my mom said. She and other family members play music at area nursing homes and they do a final run through before the week begins.

“Could we at least see him?” I asked.

She buzzed his room and in a few minutes, he came down the hall. We had hugs and a photo op.

“Enjoy visiting with your other grandma tomorrow,” I said.

I couldn’t help but think going a day early was a lucky mistake. I was able to spend time with my mom and saw my grandson. Grandparent’s day came a little bit early this year.

Copyright © October 2017 by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ 

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