Young vs. Young at Heart

My mother, also known as "Mommy Dearest" or MD for short, is young at heart. Her body's failures are disconcerting but so far they have not defeated her. Those failures include a stroke that left her partially paralyzed, and a bout with lung cancer that she's beat into remission, but nothing gets her down. She looks on each day as another opportunity to have some fun.

She has been having some new health issues so she went to the doctor to get checked. Mr. B and I went over to the manor that night to play cards with her. We each pulled up a chair and took our spots at the dining room table across from her. Mr. B dealt the cards and I asked her about the doctor visit.

She glanced up from sorting her cards and said "Well, my blood pressure is 160," her tone indicating that the number is cause for some concern.

"Hmmm, that's pretty high, especially since you're on blood pressure medication," I said.

"Yes, it is," she nodded. "And I had to submit a urine sample," she added.

"Why the sample?" I said.

"Because I have to use the bathroom so often. The doctor said he thinks it might be diabetes."

"Well, that's not so surprising considering your mother developed diabetes, right?" I said.

She glanced over at me and wrinkled her forehead. "Well, that's true, but she didn't develop it until she was old," she said, pointing her finger gnarled with arthritis at me as she emphasized the word "old," her tone dismissing any connection between her mother's "old age onset" diabetes and her own possible condition.

I looked at her in confusion.

"Um, yes, that's right," I said... "Let's see, she was in her 70's when she developed diabetes, right?" "And you're 78, so..." My words trailed off as I let their significance sink in.

She looked at me with a puzzled expression and then her face cleared like the sun bursting through the clouds on a rainy day. She leaned back in her chair and started laughing as she realized that she was indeed around the same age as her mother had been when she'd developed diabetes.

My sister, SQ, arrived home a few minutes later to join us in the game of cards and MD couldn't wait to tell her what had just transpired. MD laughed even harder in the re-telling, always one to appreciate a good joke, especially one in which she plays a major part.

It's times like these that I'm filled with gratitude that I have a mother who will never grow old, no matter what her age. She might not be young, but she will always be young at heart.