Balance part 2

As a January baby, I'm familiar with the two-headed Roman god Janus, protector of entrances and exits, of comings and goings. That duality carries over to the Chinese yin-yang symbol, black and white segments that fit together, each with a part of the other in itself. These, more than Libra's scales, mean, to me, balance.

In my last post I tempted the gods by expressing my joy with the apparent perfection of life, so of course they smacked me down later the same day, not badly but clearly.

The short version: phone call from someone at Mom's new digs asking if I could drive her to a doctor's appointment that's in an hour (I live 45 minutes away) to see about the pain in her back. From when she fell on July 5. What? Several emails among sisters later, I find that Mom had slid off her couch and landed hard on the carpeted floor, cracking her tailbone. Apparently she'd both complained about the pain off and on in the interim and refused treatment, but once the diagnosis of fracture became official, she's taking ibuprofen for it and feeling more comfortable. Other emails to care manager and medical overseer in her building confirmed that communication had somehow broken down, and that the services like transportation to appointments are offered with details in fine print that my sibs and I are now beginning to see.

I'm glad that Mom has less pain and is more comfortable physically, that she's feeling safe and "at home" there as Sis3 related to me, and that she's not upset that the singer and his pregnant wife (her auditory hallucinations) have returned, but this incident was a wakeup call that even with caregivers 24/7 in the assisted living situation, Mom still requires watching by family. And so do the workings of the assisted living place.

Many of our plants in the garden and in windowboxes more or less drowned in the month of rain, but one of the surprises has been the flourishing of our roses. The old fashioned white and pink rosa rugosas and the new Mister Lincoln red roses smell sweet and delicious enough to eat, and the two bush roses by the posts in the yard have produced dozens of gorgeous blooms. Even the totally neglected deep pink roses on the eastern end of the house seem to have doubled in size, and the blossoms are large and aromatic. Out of this spate of terrible unsummery weather has come this floral blessing. Once again, there is balance.