Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Suicide or Crazy Old Lady...you decide. LOL.

Not that I'm calling my mom old or anything...but if I'm old (and I am), then she is older. She is what might be known as "elderly". Although, I must say, if you met my mom, that is not the first term that would come to your mind. She has only slowed down a little, and that's only because the body limits you as you age. I can say that from experience.

And I'm not really calling her crazy, either. Although we are both a little....well, eccentric might be a good word. Or crazy.

So anyway...you know how sometimes you listen, but you don't really hear? Well, we had gone somewhere today, and on the way home she was talking about her roof, and what she needed to do, and I was listening, but I somehow missed something along the way. I do remember, as she got out of the car, she said, "If you see me fall off the roof, you can come over and pick me up." I laughed and said, "OK!" and backed up and drove into my driveway. My granddaughter and I got out and went in the kitchen and decided to have some of my delicious (it really was) Mennonite Turkey Noodle Soup. I had simmered it most of the day and it was yummy. (Mom had been over earlier to have a cup, in fact.) Well, some dripped from the ladle when I served it and so I went over to the sink to rinse the handle of my cup, and out the window I see my mom climbing up the ladder and onto the roof! I put the cup down and went screaming out the door to get Jeren so he could run over there and get her down before she hurt herself! Crazy woman! Maybe it's just me, but 80 year old women just don't belong on the rooftops. I was less nervous, so many years ago, when I found my 18 month old daughter up on the roof with her 5 year old uncle! At least they were young and resilient! :p

Jeren ran over there and disaster was averted but in the meantime I got these pictures. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but seeing these made me realize that they only tell the story that the viewer wants to see, unless they already know the story. Let me illustrate.


Despondent? Or trying to figure out what to do?

Probably thinking, "Why the hell did I have kids if I'm the one up here on the roof when I'm 80?"


An innocent bystander might think that here she is praying before she jumps. Or praying for a solution. Or praying for a rescue? Who knows?

Actually she is probably having a senior moment. You know how it is when you're old.
You get somewhere and then try to remember what it was you wanted to do when you got there. Sometimes you actually retrace your steps to try and figure it out.

In this picture it is obvious that her grandson is talking her down, right?

Haha...no actually he is discussing various other means of fixing the little leak. The leaking area is much smaller than the gigantic tarp being used to cover it. Our first windstorm of the year pretty much told the tarp who was boss, which is why just moments before this picture my mother was pulling it back up on the roof. Sadly my camera chose not to focus when I took that picture. Jeren got there right about that time and, as you can see in the next picture, he rolled the tarp down to the actual area of the leak. Really. It's just a small area.


Talking her off the roof. LOL. My granddaughter and I were cracking up by this time. I have no idea why my mother thought she should be up there.


Jeren held the ladder steady so she could get on it.


And there she goes back down.


Safe on the ground. Disaster averted.

8 comments:

Christine said...

Oh my word! I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Heaven help you and heaven help your children because something tells me this could be you in a few years down the road. They say, "like mother, like daughter". This is priceless. The pictures do tell the whole story. Thank goodness you saw her in time and she did not hurt herself. I love happy endings.

Sue said...

I am with Chris on this one. That is hilarious although I am sure it wasn't when you first saw her up there. Glad she made it down safely.What a woman! Kind of reminds me of my Mom a bit.
Too bad you we don't live closer to each other, Marv could come and fix that roof for her.

p.s. You may want to hide the ladder!

Tui Snider said...

Oh, my... I worry when anyone gets on the roof. I've known 2 strong, capable men fall off rooftops, with dire results: one remained in a decade long coma before dying, and the other died within minutes of the fall. Tough stuff!

Still, I can just imagine the stubborn spirit combined with a DIY attitude that your mother must possess. I rather admire it! (Even though I shudder at anyone on a roof.)

On a lighter note, when I was a teen and oblivious to any rooftop perils, my pals and I used to hang out on our roof (it was flat). We'd take our iced tea and a phone up there (long cord) and make silly prank phone calls on neighbors. Immature, but so much innocent fun!

The Invisible Mo said...

@Christine...exactly how I felt at the time. My granddaughter and I both laughed, but I was panicking and running out for Jeren at the same time.
@Sue...I wish we lived closer, too. It would be nice to have "family" people to help out once in awhile. The kids did my garage roof for me but we had to plan it way in advance to get everyone together for it. Jeren is going to bring some lap seal (something they use on the recreation vehicles) and make a temporary patch with that and in the meantime she is bartering with one of her clients that owes her money to get the roof done. I'm hoping that will pan out. If not we will have to try and throw together another roofing party.
@mental mosaic...yes, I know what you mean. I used to think nothing of jumping up on the roof to fix this or that or even just to clean it but even at 60 I am no longer able to feel comfortable. My feet are not reliable anymore. My garage roofing party made me very nervous because it has a steeper pitch than the house, but my son who works construction brought safety harnesses so I relaxed a little. (although they hardly wore them).

Anonymous said...

Mike, Irene's brother in law said to tar the roof and if you all buy the shingles he will re roof it when we are out there for the wedding!

Eve said...

What an intrepid lady! I'm glad you were there and saw her. I've never been on a roof. I have this thing about ladders.

Becky said...

LOL.

I. LOVE. YOUR. MOM.


jectwina

The Invisible Mo said...

@ anonymous...that sounds great! I will tell her. I have a few boys that can help. They did my garage last year.

@Eve...well, don't start now. LOL. I don't mind ladders and used to not mind being on the roof, but now I just don't trust my feet and ankles.

@Becky...I will tell her! Unless she read this. I'm not sure if she has or not.