I Can Be Replaced

Yesterday I was expecting to drive to Maryland to my mother's to accompany her to her fourth chemotherapy appointment today.

It was snowing in the Washington, DC area, according to my mother, and she didn't want me to drive in bad weather.  (Thank you to all the local TV stations who televised footage of traffic accidents and cars that had driven off the road.)   Supposedly the thought of me on the road would wind her up even more tightly than she is usually wound up (and she's pretty tightly wound to start with).

Snow didn't stop me in December, though I told her I would stay home and then started out anyway and made it there in one piece no worse for the wear.

This time she played the emotional blackmail card:  If you come down, I won't go to chemotherapy.

Well, heck.

I felt like playing the Mom card right back at her:  If you do that, you'll only be hurting yourself.  (I heard that somewhere before, like maybe she said it to me at some point in the last 40+ years.)

But I didn't.  I stayed home, so much for listening to classic rock and cleaning out my mental sock drawer.

 Mom said that her friend Jane would drive her, Jane having a four-wheel drive vehicle and no fear of snow.

I was mildly annoyed, especially since her oncologist wasn't going to be there.

Mom called this evening.  There was an NP covering for the oncologist, who herself is a cancer survivor.  She took more time with her than the oncologist usually does, taking her blood pressure and actually doing more of a physical exam than on any of the previous appointments.  She and Jane went to the Olive Garden for lunch and she picked up cranberry juice on sale on the way home.  Mom was absolutely chipper.

It was annoying that I am so easily replaced.

Meanwhile, instead of taking the day and kicking back, I went to work from 9 am until 1 pm and then came home to pick up Micah and Thea.

Thea finished her homework before dinner, the three of us went for a twilight bike (Micah) and scooter (Thea) ride around the neighborhood and it was a relatively pleasant evening with no meltdowns or spats.

The only bummer is that I'm on call again tonight after being on for the whole weekend.