We arrived in Olympia about 9:30 and picked up Mom to take her to church. Her church is in a temporary facility while they build a new church and this was the first time we had been to this location. Mom hasn't been to church in quite a while because of her previous injuries. We had to make sure she was strong enough to walk from the car into the building without her walker and wouldn't get too tired from sitting through a service. She is finally strong enough and will probably be attending regularly again after this week.
Everyone at Mom's church was happy to see her. She got lots of big hugs from many people who had missed her. It was a good sermon and the pastor really seemed to enjoy giving it. (This is a pentecostal church and expression of joy is probably more liberal than in some other denominations.) Mom is too hard of hearing to actually hear the words of the sermon but she can tell when someone is having a good time. Because the pastor and everyone else was enjoying the sermon, so did Mom! She told me later in the day that she was happy to see that her friends at church hadn't forgotten her. Of course they hadn't!
After church we returned to Mom's house where we met my sister Jozi and nephew Charlie. Jozi knows Mom loves little squirrels so she brought her a squirrel figurine for Easter. Mom went crazy for it. In fact she positively squealed! She kept saying over and over again "Ohhh, it's so cute!!" Then she started telling Jozi all about how much she will love Cabela's when we go and that the squirrel reminds her of some of the animals they have there.
Jozi and I recently got new "used" computers and I promised to help get hers set up. Jozi brought her peripherals (keyboard, mouse, etc.) so I could do that. After we transferred her computer gear to my car we all went off to the Chinese buffet for our holiday meal. Yes, it's a bit untraditional but we enjoy it and the most important thing is to spend time together.
One reason I love going to the Chinese buffet is to watch Mom fill her plate twice with lots of good food and eat it all down. Walter once said we could easily get her back to her pre-illness weight by taking her to the buffet every day. Well sure that's a great idea, but you know who else would gain weight at the same time?? Those of us who don't need to! I think we will stick to a couple times a month at the buffet. :)
After our buffet meal we went to Fred Meyer to pick up a few things then returned to Mom's house for some visiting. José and Melissa were going to meet us there but it took longer than we expected before we got home and we missed them. They left a lovely Easter card and a cute Easter bunny figurine from Melissa on Mom's porch. Mom loved them both and now she had two new decorations for her home. We had to call Melissa to thank her.
We had a great time, and more importantly Mom had a great time. Mom has had a hard time with holidays ever since my Dad passed away, and this is the first holiday where she has actually enjoyed herself. She told me with a big smile that "we had a good Easter even though it rained" and "It was just great to be with everybody!" This morning when I spoke to her she told me again how much she enjoyed it. This is the same woman who ever since Dad passed away would say at every holiday "I don't really want to celebrate any more - he's gone." That turnaround is a flat out miracle.
Charlie took this picture of Jozi, Mom, Walter and me. I always feel like I tower over Jozi and Mom (probably because they are the only people I know shorter than me) but you can see that "towering" is a relative word. In fact, it probably applies only to Walter here.
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