The Reluctant Traveler

My Mom...I've dragged her to points of interest and beyond!!I dragged her over 8,000 miles and 34 days of car travel that trip! I've dragged, pushed and insisted she accompany me on zillions of trips...near and far, she always went along! Never said NO!

mom in our small soaking pool,  2008 

 Here she is at Yellowstone, in 1998 

I'm the middle child....not the baby and not the oldest, I'm sure there are lots of middle children out there!!

I'm not looking for sympathy here...this is the reality of life ...but my ability to go "places" has reached a snag...ya'll know my mother had to have hip surgery in April...and since her release she has had a tough time, her mobility is down to barely able to get around using a walker, she does have a more mobile 3 wheel thing we call The Rover...but she gets tired so easy just pushing it around exhausts her.  She is gonna be 90 in a few months...so I have no one to watch over my Mom if I want to take off and she is getting too frail to make longer trips.  My Mom has always been my best Pal...we have done sooooo many things together!! 

Here she is walking at Swan Lake and Gardens, Sumter SC 2009

Mom's goose

Here she is walking on the dirt road where we live when I insisted we take a walk ....its 2 miles round trip!

Mom walking in 2009 carrying her oxygen in a back pack!

I'm what you call stuck between a rock and a hard soft place... I have 2 sisters last year my Mom went to spend time in Colorado with my older sister who is retired and has ample space and she doesn't travel except to come here.  But when I broke both my arms...(*&^%$) she came back and decided not to go back to CO at that time.  My younger sister has made choices that keep her nose to the grind stone so tight she is not available most of the time, my son is wrapped up in his own life as one should be...so that leaves me! 

Here she is bundled up on the boardwalk at Congaree National Swamp when I insisted to go visit the park in the dead of winter...

So on the 4th of July...Mom and I were quiet at home we did nothing special..

Mom July 4th 2011 on a picnic in Sandhills Wildlife Refuge

except I had the Walking Dead marathon to keep me busy,,,she actually watched a few episodes with me and asked so many questions, why did they do that, who are those people, whats with all these horrible effects of blood and guts?...I try to explain its an escape for me...I'm not sure she gets it...the cooler weather meant at least we could go outside for a breath of fresh air from the humidity of the SC summer we relaxed on the porch.

Here she is in 2010 when I dragged her to down to the coast for 4 days we explored Charleston &  Edisto Island

  beach Edisto 2010

Mom on street Charleston, SC

So this coming weekend...we are traveling upstate for a weekend at younger sister's home.  I am looking forward to it we leave Friday!  We have plans to attend a minor league Ball Game on Saturday night, And Sunday we will return home and we are bringing Maggie with us for a week...she loves it at our home as its completely peaceful here.  

2006 When I dragged Mom up to New England in October, she didn't even own a winter coat, don't need one in SC!

Then I dragged her to Niagara Falls in the rain...in October...at least we got her a coat!

Mom Niagara Falls, NY

pondering at 40 acre rock Kershaw, SC

Today we need some supplies...a trip to the Piggly Wiggly I ask "you wanna take a ride with me?"

"No, I don't feel well enough to go." 
--Sigh--

Mom in 1970 

Here is a list of states I've dragged Mom since I got my driver's license in 1969! 

in Alphabetical order:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois 

Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee

Texas, Vermont, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming!!

She has been, but not with me, to Florida & Utah also! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.