Charlotte: Allowed home

The only problem with mom, besides being weak from lying in bed for so long was her memory. She was allowed home a few days later. I was made to promise that I would be helpful and more adult in my attitude, dad was going to need all the help he could get. She arrived home a bit like a visitor and looked round like it was all new to her. We showed her around the house. Some things she could remember and some things seemed to come back to her as the evening passed. She went to bed very early looking really exhausted.

Charlotte: Still there

We went quietly into mom’s room and I expected some serious telling off from dad, but he was too busy gazing at mom who looked as if she was really surprised to find herself there. She looked pleased to see us but her smile was sort of like she wasn’t sure what to do with her mouth and her voice was very husky We hugged but she felt very frail and weak. Dad was trying to explain what had been going on, mom couldn’t remember anything and said she’d like to go home. Dad had to explain that she couldn’t go home just yet. They had to decide how well she was and do some tests. Mom started to cry so he promised he’d stay with her for the night, it calmed her down a bit, but it was easy to see she wasn’t happy. GrandpaBill explained that he would take me home and look after me so she didn’t need to worry about that. We hugged again and cried a bit and GrandpaBill took me back to his place.

Charlotte: Time to wake up

Dad came to GrandpaBill’s later to eat and uncle Mike was with us too, for a change. It was like a sort of celebration in a strange subdued way; while we were having dessert, dad’s phone rang, it was the hospital! He told them he was coming straight away. At first my stomach lurched as I expected bad news but dad had a grin on his face and told us that mom had ‘woken up’. He told us to stay there while he went to see what was going in, but GrandpaBill and I decided to go and see for ourselves after a couple of minutes.

GrandpaBill went all serious on the way there, reminding me that mom might not be as before so not to get my hopes up too much.

Charlotte: She squeezed my hand!

After school dad took me to visit mom. The room was sunny this afternoon, I wished she could see and feel it. I hadn’t been alone with mom up to now and today the moment I was dreading came, dad had to go out to see a doctor. He explained to me about a button to press if I thought mom needed something. He told me to go ahead and talk to her and hold her hand. It was difficult at first all on my own but soon I was telling her about school and how it seems like everyone remembered her from the story time at the library when they were young. All of a sudden I felt her hand squeeze mine, it wasn’t a strong squeeze but I was sure it was a squeeze. I really jumped and panicked and started to call for a nurse or someone, then I remembered the button and kept pressing it. By the time the nurse came in she wasn’t squeezing my hand anymore, so I tried to explain and started to cry. Dad and a doctor came rushing in and the doctor started looking at her eyes and stuff like that. I was frightened that they wouldn’t believe me, but the doctor and the nurse were really kind and told me and dad not to get our hopes up. Dad and I sat with her and talked to her until GrandpaBill came to take me home.

Charlotte: Memories

After I’d finished my school work I went down to see dad in his lair. He was looking at some photos from the past. They were from when he first knew mom. One of the first that I saw with him was one of him and mom at Laura and Dan’s, it was a kind of blind date except they had sort of seen each other before. They were sat at a table in the garden. It was strange to think that when it was taken they didn’t really know each other. I asked dad what he was thinking when it was taken, he laughed and said he was wondering if she’d mind if he asked her out. There was a photo of feet in some horrible hairy slippers with pink toe nails, mom’s feet – in her slippers. There were a few photos mom and dad, Laura and Dan at the cabin, they looked pretty smashed in some of them. One photo I liked was of mom holding a baby – not me!. Dad explained that the baby was Thomas. I really like Tom, he’s so good looking; he’s always got lots of beautiful girls hanging around with him. In one mom is surrounded by children while she’s playing the piano.

I suddenly realised that everyone has been looking after me, watching to make sure that I don’t get too down, keeping me fed and occupied. Who’s been looking out for dad now that mom’s not around? I gave him a big hug.

Charlotte: Life goes on…

Dad collected me from school and we went in to see mom. I can’t think of much to say when I see her, so I make sure her hair is tidy and wipe her nose if it needs it. Sometimes she dribbles, she’d be horrified if she knew. I took some photos from before to show the nurses so that they’d know what she’s really like when she’s normal.

I was really surprised when dad came home with me. He explained that he must keep up with his work. His students were entering the run up to exams; he’d go later to see her and GrandpaBill had been popping in during the day though he doesn’t like to stay too long, he gets too upset. Laura and Dan were planning to see her today too.

Another BlogExplosion update

You will probably come across this post on one of my other blogs:

A couple of times now the approval queue has been right down to zero. It was a strange sensation after all this time. Some of you might have noticed that your blogs were approved almost instantly! We worked very hard to get the approval queue down to a minimum. Despite all the best efforts sometimes bad blogs do get through. If you see something which offends or you think shouldn’t be there you can report the site. You’ll see the link just below the banner at the top of the page when you are surfing.

Badmin continues working quietly to fix and change things. Lots of people enjoyed the Shoutbox in the past and hopefully there will be some sort of text based chat coming soon.

The forums have been very quiet recently, why not pop by and see what there is on offer nowadays? There are new bloggers saying ‘Hi’ or details of the assigned credits bonus during the month of May. If you have any ideas, worries about BlogExplosion or general questions about blogging there is always someone around willing to help out. We’d love to hear what you think about the changes.

Charlotte: back to school

School was strange. Everyone was really nice to me. They talked a lot about mom. Loads of people remember when she read them stories at the library when they were small and some have got older brothers and sisters who have been taught drama or literature by her. Usually at lunch time I keep myself to myself , it was quite nice to be invited to join some of the girls in my class. Their conversation about boys and make up didn’t interest me much, but I enjoyed the change of ideas. The teachers were kind to me, I think all the nicey, nicey might get on my nerves pretty soon. Perhaps it helps them feel better too?

Charlotte: Life continues

I’ve spent the whole of the holidays at GrandpaBill’s. I slept in dad’s old room as I usually do when I spend the night there, not that I’ve been sleeping much. Tomorrow is school, I don’t want to go, I’ve got more important things to think about. I’ve been doing a lot of reading up so I can help mom as much as possible when she wakes up. I said ‘when’ and not ‘if’!

As some of my research involved the library I’ve been having long conversations with Laura who has been telling me about mom and dad when they first met. She told me that mom had rescued dad from the “Wicked Witch of the West”. It turns out he had a girlfriend who was a real control freak but dad didn’t realise it. Laura made mom sound like superwoman or something. I think she told me all that so I can understand better why dad seems so lost at the moment.

Charlotte: No change

Dad’s been spending nearly all of his spare time at the hospital. He talks to her about anything and everything. I’ve been a few times with GrandpaBill, but we don’t really like going. They cut some of her hair off because it was so tangled and matted with blood. It will be a little shorter than shoulder length if she ever wakes up. She’ll be mad when she finds out.