Posted 1-5-22
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. –James 1:5
Another new year…boy, they keep on tickin’. 🙂 I hope your 2022 is more 2022 and less 2020-too. 🙂
Mom was about the same yesterday and today as she has been for the last year. Largely unresponsive although she eats well and responds to having her face washed. The “conversations” ended 2+ years ago and words ended over a year ago. However, she seems happy (relatively) and not in pain. Just a blank stare. It reminds me a little of my internet at work today and of tennis. (LOL…I know…I am a goob.)
I will grant you that I had a few too many tabs open in my browser when I ran this, but it shouldn’t cause the numbers to be as they were. The 408.0 is the download speed and is measured in Megabits per second. 408 Mbps is, all things considered, pretty strong, even in a big town. The 3.37 Mbps is the upload speed. That, frankly, is terrible. Think of a zoom as a bunch of downloads and uploads. Well, you are only as strong as your weakest link…and my upload speed is terrible today. Our provider has heard me many times and will continue to hear from me until this number is closer than the 30 Mbps I pay for. (They aren’t the same speed…and don’t need to be…and my tech friends are rolling their eyes at my explanation, but you get the point.)
Another way of putting my internet speed is that it is like me playing Tennis against Venus Williams or, perhaps, my childhood temper tantrum modeling role model John McEnroe. The ball goes super fast one way…incomprehensibly so, relative to the other person’s ability to address the ball. Then when it is the opponent’s turn to serve, he/she is so tired from trying that they barely get the ball over the net.
These analogies, while imperfect, are an explanation of a visit with mom right now. Anything I say is too fast…and she is too tired from trying to process anything with a blank memory that she doesn’t even have a clue how to hit the ball back. It makes for boring internet, boring tennis, and hard conversations….but it is still worth every second. See, mom isn’t a broken tennis player or a broken router…she is mom, and every flinch brings hope that she will soon serve the ball aflame as before. That is one reason why I fight so hard for a cure. I hate this disease for what it does to some wonderful folks…including mom.
Thank you for catching my little, imperfect similes. Here is a poem I wrote about similar similes. Try to say THAT fast with a smile 3 times! 🙂 POEM
Now commence fighting this killer serve with me. Restart the internet while you are at it. 😉
#EndALZ
#RunninTilImPurple
By the way…please don’t mistake my sentiment for thinking that mom isn’t trying. She has and continues to try hard. Very hard. I can see it in her eyes, blank staring as they are. She hates this too…