Fajita chicken with Mexican veg

One of the first things that mum said to me was “someone is coming today – who is it?”

I told her it Lady Friday would be here, and we would also have a visit from a solicitor but I would explain more about that later, when she was more awake.

With hindsight, I should have said nothing, as mum pestered me until I gave in and told her that the solicitor was coming to do the paperwork for a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for her health. I explained, as simply as I could without being patronising, what that meant: that it would allow me to tell doctors what she would want, if she couldn’t do it herself.

After a couple of repetitions, mum shook her head and said “tell me again later, when I’m more awake”. I.e. exactly what I intended to do until you pushed me to do it now. 🙄

As the morning wore on, mum started getting anxious which, as always, exaggerated her physical symptoms. When I didn’t immediately jump to reassure and coddle her, she doubled down until her stomachache was so bad she “might as well just jump off something”.

When even that hyperbole failed to move me, she decided to retreat to bed, although not without repeatedly fishing for me to stop her “don’t you want me to lie down? Do you think I’m doing something bad?” My genuine indifference was absolutely not what she wanted from me!

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The solicitor arrived this afternoon, two hours after I was expecting her to be here – my fault entirely, I’m sure – and chatted for a while about the LPA we want, the one mum already has (for her finances) and about mum’s situation and mine.

What I was quietly dreading was the solicitor asking mum to explain what she (the solicitor) was going to do. It’s not that I thought mum didn’t agree – I know she does, having told me so every time I raise th topic – but that mum tends, when pressed, to default to “I don’t understand” and looking to me to do whatever it is.

I should have expected the solicitor to know better than that, though, and she never did ask mum that direct question. Instead she slowly talked through the purpose of the LPA, making sure at each stage that mum was following the explanation and actively agreeing.

That done, the solicitor headed off to start the paperwork, clearing the way for Lady Friday to come round and take mum out for an hour or so. They went to Alum Bay, apparently. 🤷‍♂️

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Once I had found the baking trays which the cleaner had put in the grill section of the oven, for some reason, I cooked some fajita spice-coated chicken tenders for dinner. To go with them, I pan-fried some frozen Mexican veg (mostly peppers and kidney beans, with a few small pieces of something orange that may have been sweet potato). Quickly realising that mum would never eat it, I got out a bag of salad for her.

Then we had trifle (followed, for mum, by coffee ice cream and dark chocolate), while watching the athletics, which mum always says she likes but quickly gets bored with. Shortly we will have The Great British Sewing Bee, which will be much the same and end with mum complaining that I want to watch this programme and she wants to go to bed.

(Talking of bed: Suki slept on mine last night, and woke me this morning by snuggling against my chest for some morning cuddles. My life may not be great much of the time, but at least it has a cuddly tabby cat in it.)