Another Errand

Every mother can relate.  Multi-tasking is not an option, unless sleep deprivation is.  Yes, I drive with a headset while scheduling appointments or inquiring about a credit card bill.  Yes, I vaccum while three pots are boiling or frying dinner on the stove.  Yes, I do my own checkbook paperwork while intermittently helping one of my children with math homework. I am a strong defender of multi-tasking, careful multi-tasking.  Research can claim all it wants about the inefficiency of it.  Without the the idiomatic killing two birds with one stone, my day would require at least 27 hours for me to finish what I need to have done.

That said, I am impressed, even a little envious, with the pace of the elderly.  Bathroom visits section off a good portion of time for many.  Cooking entails slow simmering, eating requires careful chewing, which equates to savoring the flavors and textures of each part of the meal.  Walking may at times be a struggle, but the deliberate steps allow one to really stop and smell the roses.  Watching a television show, or engaging in any form of recreation, is Zen-like.

Tomorrow I have plans to take my mother-in-law to the medical center.  I partly dread it.  It takes time from my normal schedule, my children, me.  I worry about our conversation in the car, what she says, and how I respond.  My OCD pet peeve hovering about me -- will she cover her mouth when she coughs or sneezes in the car?  When she had first arrived to live in our home, I took her out frequently.  She had more dental, medical, and specialized visits than I ever had!  In addition to mammography, bone scans, gynecology, and dermatology injections, she had met with nutritionists and a few times, physical therapists.  Despite all the health care, she still felt she was not being treated well at home, and from that point, our outings had been limited to the essential physical check-ups, vision, and sick visits.  I was prepared at one point to just relegate the driving and supervision of those visits to someone else, a hired hand, for instance. But that is another story...

To help me prepare for this trip, I pack ahead and brainstorm how I can multi-task.  I'll grab the incoming morning mail and read it in the waiting room, along with my newspaper, if my toddler allows me.  I'll feed this boy mashed organic bananas from those convenient Gerber tubs, and write my to-do list for the following days.  If I need to push the stroller around I'll make the calls I need to make to my older kids' schools, to the electric company, maybe a friend.  I'll multi-task so that I won't feel my morning time will be swallowed up from driving and waiting and driving some more.
 
But more importantly, tomorrow I, Dilara Channing, will try my best to enjoy and relish each moment of this trip.  It is my duty to help out anyway, is it not?  If not to her, then to my God.