THE VISITATION

It was a cool crisp morning as I climbed the steps to the front door and ring the bell. After a few long moments Mom answers the door, unlocking a series of locks that would be the envy of Fort Knox or a federal prison, and greets me:

“WHERE’S YOUR COAT? IT’S COLD OUT!”

“Hi Ma, it’s good to see you too.”

“Don’t get so smart, you’re not too big to get it on the head with a wooden spoon.”

“OK Ma, but can you wait until I’m in the house, child abuse you know?”

Mom had asked me to take her to see her newest great grandchild, #12. The parents even gave it a name: Alexa Marie. The Marie comes from the recent passing of my Aunt Marie, Mom’s younger sister.

Mom can’t Break Dance anymore, she is 94, and can’t walk for long, yet can’t sit for long either, she stiffens up and says: “Don’t get old!”

“Mom, do you have a walker you can take?”

“A walker? Nooooo, that’s for old people.”

“Ma, I … never mind, do you have your cane?”

ALEXA MARIE

I take Mom to the hospital, a huge sprawling complex called Stony Brook Medical Center, and I drive up to the front door and stop, tie up traffic and get out and open Mom’s side and escort her to a bench. There she sits on this bench and waits for me to go park the car and then collect her for our walking tour of the hospital until we find my niece Sarah’s room.

Suddenly, I get this strange feeling that something is wrong! We take a few steps and it still feels wrong, I pause and sense behind me is the source of these vibes. I turn and there is Tessie, my older sister (much older) ready to wreck some kind of evil upon me.) A look of disappointment covers her face as I discover her and she states: “You were lucky, just plain lucky!”

Now I have a question. If you are 94 years of age, can’t walk for long, can’t sit for long, and can just about see and hear, why, oh why, do you carry a big pocketbook that weights more than you do? I will not ask her that question because she may have the wooden spoon in it.

We find the room after a stroll along the corridors and elevators to the 6^th floor, which is really the second floor from ground level. They do this so they can have a building drive for some missing bottom floors. Entering the room it is crowded with grandmas and the new baby!

Mom sits in a chair in the corner, she is given the baby to hold for the first time and it gets quiet as suddenly 94 years of life is connected, as she says: “YOU are number twelve!”