My Mother Is Thriving @ The Independent Living Community She Resides At. I Requested A Special Christmas Gift From Her This Year. Would You Like To Know What It Is?

Beyond a shadow of a doubt I do beleive my mother is thriving in her new apartment. Much more then if she lived with my sister or myself. It is an adjustment at her age to not be living with one of her daughters. A familiar face. She is meeting people from all walks of life. People that were professionals in their careers. I found this fascinating, they have a library and the person that is in charge of the library was actually a librarian before they retired.

I asked my mom if she could paint a picture for me for my Christmas present this year. I wanted to be the first one to get one of her paintings. As long as I can remember she wanted to paint. I think at various times we even got her the tools so she could learn to paint. Nothing ever came of that in her busy schedule that she used to keep. She even gave some of them back to me when she was moving. She has the opportunity to take painting classes with a local artist as an activity. She signed up for the classes and already painted her first painting. They supply the canvas, paints, brushes and they even provide the scene they will be painting. How so very appropriate the painting she did for me. A bird perched on a branch with various shades of green as the background. She has learned a few different ways to play bingo and even another card game too. She has taken drumming classes, exercise and even balance exercise classes. My mother always lived an active lifestyle so it blesses me so much to see her getting involved in activities and not just staying in her apartment. She shared they had a 40 piece band /orchestra of a local retired group come and give a concert for them.

A professional group of singers came and sang southern style songs one day also. I know it is not living with one of your children but it really is a lovely community for our mother to reside at. She enjoys sitting on her patio watching the sunsets or just enjoying a lovely weather day. My mother told me there are days when she leaves for breakfast and doesn't get back to her apartment until late in the afternoon. God bless you Mom for being you, the woman God created you to be.

I received an email the other day and saw a picture of the painting my mom did for me. I replied back to her email how I really liked the picture. She then responded to me that she sent it to me along with others and she wasn't suppose to send it to me because she wanted to surprise me with it when I received the gift. So, the surprise is now out of the bag. I told her I would  find a special place of honor to display it. See, that is why I do not necessarily like communicating via email sometimes things like this happen. Sending it to others and the one person not supposed to get it gets it. You know words can be misconstrued in an email too. I really do not like the age of technology in which we live in now. What ever happened to picking up a phone to have a conversation or talking in person? So one can see the way the conversation is taking place. You know, sincerity and even voice inflections too that you can only experience in person. Words are just words when you read them on a piece of paper or in an email. No personality just words to be read. I suppose you could say the same about a blog too. That is why I try to include short videos of me talking, or music or even pictures I captured to share with the event that took place in my life. Some are for showing something I am sharing about actually took place and that I am not making things up. I think it would be fun to somehow have one of my college friends and I just sharing our conversations we have. You would enjoy us laughing, you really would.