Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Buck Stops Here

Connie, Mom's weekday caregiver, called in sick today.
I was counting on her to show up at 2 pm and entertain Mom until 10 pm, taking her out in the wheelchair, to meals, showering her and putting her to bed.
My big goal for the day was to be in Pasadena by 5 pm to meet the current members of the Women's Concerns Committee at Fuller Theological Seminary and establish contact with them for an organization I belong to, the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus, prior to a meeting we're having on Sunday.
Also I need to type up last month's minutes of the Community Violence Prevention Coalition prior to our meeting on Thursday, as well as clean house for the P.E.O. meeting on Friday.
But now I had to stop by and visit Mom for an hour before leaving for Pasadena. Just skipping a day of visiting her is not possible if her caregiver is not coming. She fusses and complains if I am late, and I depend on being able to hand her over to her caregiver.
The upshot was that I visited her, stayed longer than I intended, left for Pasadena at 4 pm, encountered so much traffic that I didn't even get on the freeway until 5 pm, and didn't get to the meeting until 5:45 pm, when it was mostly over.
I did meet the group, however, and I will visit them again another day when I can take more time to hear about their work and tell them about EEWC as a resource.
I regretted the way things turned out, but leaving Mom at her residence with no visit and no caregiver is not an option.
The buck stops here.

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