Day 206 The Perfect Mom Project

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I have always known that I am the emotional thermometer for this house, but it is really obvious when I am stressed. My aunt Nina wanting to go home has put a giant knot between my shoulder blades, which has also caused a stress reverberation within my house. The old saying "If Momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy" is true at this house.

 I notice it most in Aly. She can pick up on my mood every time. If she sees me crying she will cry. She does not even have to know why we are crying; she just opens up her tear ducts and joins in. I felt bad for her yesterday, because I was trying hard not to send my stress vibes out, but out they went, and poor Aly was caught right in the middle. Once I realized how I was affecting her, I tried to keep to myself. I do not want to take out the whole family over this issue with my Aunt.

 They basically told me at the nursing home yesterday, if she does not want to be here, we cannot keep her. Since she is of sound mind (their words, not mine) she is legally able to sign herself out and go home. We all have to stand by in horror and watch. Already one of her friends is telling me, I should go to court, I should do this, and I should do that. The truth is I do not want to go to court or anything else for that matter. The social worker at the nursing home has told me to be blatantly honest with my Aunt about what we can and cannot do for her. When I talked with Mark about all this last night, I told him that we should just tell her that if she wants to go home she will have to do it on her own, because we do not agree with the idea. We honestly do not want to be responsible for this choice and we do not want to start jumping through hoops to make it happen. Now the fun part will be telling her this, because if Aunt Nina ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

 All of that aside, today is St Patrick's Day and it is always a big event at our house. We have been checking to make sure everyone is wearing green. I make boiled supper with cabbage, potatoes, carrots and corn beef. We all add green food coloring to our beverages and listen to Celtic music. I am sure you remember that I like to celebrate anything I can, so today our family is going "green"!

Todays photo is of Roxanne and Oliver helping me to decorate for St Patricks Day