Another Moment

I think we will all have those moments when we realize that our parents are getting older and more venerable. I have had a few of those with my mother but I had another one today. Mom got into some traffic when she was driving up yesterday and was a little frazzled when she got here. She made several comments about it but seemed to calm down after an hour or so.

Today, she started talking about the traffic again. She then jokingly stated that she would pay me $100 dollars to drive her to the south part of the city so she didn't have to drive in the traffic. We just laughed about it. She then started to get an upset stomach. (Very common for her when she is nervous). As the day went on, Mom seemed to get more and more sick to her stomach. I suggested an alternate route. She seemed to settle on taking that road home. Mom seemed to just be hanging out, which was very fine, but it was more of a hesitation about leaving. She finally said that she was going home and at the same time, got sick to her stomach.

She came into the living room, sat down, and said she felt silly for being so worried about driving home. I asked her if she wanted me to drive her, she said she would be fine and then started crying. I asked again and she said she wanted me to drive her. We did and she felt better and made it home okay. It was a realization that mom's confidence in driving in the city is very shaken and she most likely won't be able to come up again on her own.