MMIL8

MMIL's an extraordinary person.
We often laugh with her (and without her sometimes) about the silly things and mix-ups she gets into. When such things happen to us, we tend to confess and share it with those around us. Apart from the now twice daily (sometimes 4/5) conversation MMIL has with HerIndoors (HI), MMIL has no one to share things with. I expect she talks to herself most of the time. She's alone but for the phone.
How then does she remain so perky, honest and cheerful enough to read out a joke and chortle at the punchline, which she already knows and to take her gaffs with a pinch of salt. ('Oh well you know me!') and move on?
She remains sane because of those phone calls; it's the hook she hangs her life on. To miss the call, to listen to the answer message, to hear the relentless engaged tone, must be hard to bear.
I understand why MMIL has decided to undertake a house move. She wants to near someone, to share her life; she's decided aloneness isn't what she wants. MMIL has said she's ready and willing to leave, not only the house, but her church, the area and her past with all its memories. That's a scary thing to undertake by anyone!
Inspite of  these enormous upheavals, she remains cheeful, positive in her thoughts, excited and enthusiastic about present and future challenges.
I think MMIL is a pretty extraordinary person.

MMIL 7

It's difficult to climb into the mind-set of someone else, at the the best of times. With MMIL it's like a busy railway junction with trains going in every direction. You want to follow a particular train but find the other person's on a train going in the opposite direction - Try to discuss furnishing a house with MMIL on the other end of a telephone line.....

'I thought you meant the other chair, the one by the TV with the photos on top. OK. You mean the one by the desk in the dining room! Right, well that could fit easily in the room I'm calling the dining room, although, on the 'house particulars', it's called the third bedroom. Of course you'll probably want to use it as a bedroom when the time comes when you can't get up the stairs! Yes we can can move that chair when we reach that stage!!!!'.....and so on......

So

'MMIL, I'm working on a scale drawing of the floor layout with elevations of each wall to show windows. There's squares and rectangles of coloured paper (to scale) that you can shunt around to get an idea where BIG THINGS can go.'
'I think I'll miss the ones that you can use to show where pictures can hang - we're nowhere near deciding about pictures!' (Sigh)
'Yes there is a built-in eyelevel cooker and grill, we talked about that on Saturday and last Wednesday! 'No, it's OK, we can get all the kitchen roll in the back of our car. No, there's no need to order more just yet!'

MMIL seems to be OK now after the little hiccup at church on Sunday....thank the lord!