"Ha! - Me Moving Like a Turtle"

My mom headed for Yarmouth this afternoon to spend the long weekend with her friends. So I'm on Grandma duty. The relief pitcher heads up to the mound.

I came home from work and went over to Gram in her rocking chair, like I always do, but this time there was a big lipstick kiss mark on Gram's cheek. When I kissed her, she said, "Don't lose my kiss. I'm going to keep it there till she gets back."

I'd joked yesterday that we should have a party. So as I took my sweater off and set down my purse, I said, "Okay, let's start!" But we agreed we'd have a quiet night to start off the weekend, and the only revelry was my dog Xena's. She got the okay to come up to the main level while Mom's away, and for Xena it was like roaming through a three-level shopping mall. Loads of new smells! Lots of different nooks and crannies! A mesmerizing new person to look at!

Gram used to be too nervous around dogs for me to have Xena come up. But my dog is very mellow. Gram likes her, now. She said, "I know why you say you love him (she thinks all dogs are 'him'), when I look at his face. Look at him, looking at me!"

Later on, after Gram's eyedrops were put in and I'd given her all her puffers, when she'd got herself ready in her nightgown, I helped her swing her feet up into the bed and settled her covers over her. She looked at me with a cute smile.

She said, "Good thing we didn't have our party, eh? Ha! Me - moving like a turtle. How could I pass around the drinks and the cakes?"