My mother is in her late sixties, and she is medically disabled. I will not discuss the nature of her disabilities publicly, as I have been explicitly requested not to do so by her herself, and I am morally bound to honor that. Suffice to say that, although her mind is very much as sharp as a tack, her mobility is extremely limited, and she does not have many hours during the day in which she can do practical, useful things. Getting complicated tasks done takes a lot longer for her than for others, not out of lack of mental capacity (because she does not lack that) but out of the considerable difficulties brought into her life by her disabilities.
In the past, she was a librarian, a farmer, a lawyer, and one of the most extraordinarily determined mothers I could possibly have the honor to admire. She is by far a better person than I am, and the fact that she still is willing and able to haul her broken aching body out of bed every morning is itself a testament to that.
I find it extremely sad that someone in our community would feel the need to “elevate” themselves, at least in their own mind, by insinuating that she does not have her wits about her sufficiently to understand a power bill. I also think that if someone feels the need to publicly denigrate an elderly and disabled lady in that manner, however accurate the charges may be (and I can personally attest that they are not only beyond the pale, but well and truly false on the outset) — that says a lot more about the person making such horribly nasty remarks, than it does about either me or her.
You don’t kick a fellow when they’re down. You just don’t.
Having said those things, I consider this matter closed. I do have a bit of good news, though — a family friend saw my remarks about the water heater in my previous post, and that person volunteered to send us a plumber, at *their* cost, who was able to achieve the seemingly impossible and remove the stuck lower element in the existing tank. While they were here, they put in the two replacement elements. Mom now has running hot water. We’ll work things out with the Duke bill later, as best we can — and I have promised our friend a nice restaurant lunch or dinner, their choice, on my dime sometime in February when my bank account has a reasonable quantity of money in it again.
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2020 00:50:21 -0500
From: Christopher Havel
Subject: In the matter of my mother
2020-01-28