Before I get started on the “adventures” of Dot and Ruthie I thought I would explain the story a little bit.
RUTHIE (Ruth)
Ruthie is my mom. She is widowed and has lived alone for several years. She is a socialite and loves talking and visiting with anyone who will pay attention to her. Therefore, she does not like living alone. She had previously moved to Houston close to my brother, had several friends there, and had started going to a senior activity center. She was just months away from moving in to a senior apartment which would have had many activities for her to do, but at the end of the day she basically was going home to an empty house. This brings us up to about a year ago, December 2022, when the offer was made and she moved in with us.
DOT (Dorothy)
Dot is my mother-in-law. She has lived with her best friend for about the past 30 years. Health issues made it necessary for her to move in with us, I believe around summer of 2023, basically just months after Ruthie. She would not choose to have to live with us, but makes the best of it knowing that there is not another choice. She is totally opposite from Ruthie, more reserved, and doesn’t talk much.
So these will be stories of life having not only one, but both of our mothers living with us and the joys as well as challenges that we face in adjusting to it, as we navigate taking care of them. There will be laughter and I am sure tears, but in the end I am certain that it will be, as we reflect later, time spent with them that we would not have traded for anything.
