Sandwiched
COVID-19 has certainly made me feel helpless at times over the past 12 months. I know I’m not alone. Many of these moments have involved my mother. And now the weather has made things even worse.
As long-time readers know, Mom lives in a wonderful assisted living facility here in Hamilton County. The staff has gone above and beyond to make certain we can see her through many creative means. These included “sunshine” visits outside from July through October, followed by indoor visits in a designated empty apartment – until they got their first COVID case in mid-November.
Starting at Christmas, they’ve allowed us to visit our loved ones through a window or door. While I’ve appreciated this opportunity, I’ve only been able to take advantage of it when the temperatures were above freezing. Otherwise, it’s too short of a visit because I’m so cold I can only stand it for about five minutes.
Imagine my excitement a couple of weeks ago when they announced we could visit indoors once again as long as we had a negative COVID test within 72 hours. I booked my test for last Monday and set up a visit for yesterday.
But the weather had other plans. I drove to Ivy Tech Monday afternoon before the big wave of snow hit to see that they had closed in anticipation of the storm. I didn’t blame them for taking that precaution, but I was discouraged. I called the facility and postponed the visit to the 25th to give this weather plenty of time to improve.
As I watched the wind and snow pummel Noblesville later that afternoon, I got a phone call from an employee at Mom’s facility. Mom needed Fixodent for her dentures. I placed an order on Amazon, knowing I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and saw that it would arrive Wednesday.
I have no idea if she was totally out of it, as I still can’t reach her on the phone – Mom has this crazy habit of hitting the button on her answering machine to turn it off. And as I write this on Tuesday, there’s nothing I can do even if she were completely out. Our alley still hasn’t been plowed and neither has our side street. My husband is enjoying a “snow day” from work since we can’t get our cars out of our garage/driveway.
The Noblesville Street Department crews are working hard and they’ll get to everything eventually (thank you, City of Noblesville!), but I feel powerless knowing there’s nothing I can do for my mama if she needs it.
All I can do is lean on God like usual and trust that He will take care of her. He’s helped me through these tough, helpless situations over and over in the past, and I know He will continue to do so now and in the future.