Friday, October 2, 2015

The Prodigal Blow Dryer

A month or two ago, mom's blow dryer died. For those of you who read regularly, you know of mom's attachment to her blow dryer. My dad thought about replacing it, but it really was for the best that it disappeared as it was becoming a problem. Consequently, mom complains daily about us "losing" her blow dryer. Part of her resistance to get into the shower and wash her hair is due to the fact that she has no blow dryer for her hair (and wet body).

For weeks now, I've been meaning to bring over my blow dryer on the days I shower her. By the time I get the kids off to school with everything they need, I forget to grab my blow dryer (and I head over to her house straight after drop off). I was talking to my dad about it and it turned out that he found a spare blow dryer. He tucked it away in the spare room for me to use this morning on mom's hair.

With how much mom's been missing her blow dryer, you would've thought that she'd be ecstatic to see me walk in the bathroom with a blow dryer in hand. It didn't go over exactly as I thought. To start with, during her shower she continued her mumbled complaints of having no blow dryer, despite me telling her, and even showing her, that I brought my blow dryer over. When she got out of the shower, she went about her usual routine of applying make up and brushing her hair and I turned the blow dryer on and attempted to brush-dry her hair while she was readying herself. She didn't seem to notice whatsoever that I had the blow dryer. In fact, when she was done with what she was doing, she turned and walked herself over to her bed, plopping down and mumbling again about how "he lost my blow dryer"!

For five minutes I waved the blow dryer in front of mom, telling her I brought my blow dryer and coaxing her back over to dry her hair. She stared back at me with no comprehension in her eyes. Then, suddenly, she jumped up, looked at the blow dryer for a second before grabbing it from my hand and attempted to dry her hair. After a couple quick minutes, she turned the blow dryer off so I quickly grabbed it, turned it back on and continued drying her hair for as long as she would let me.

At one point, mom's lips curled down and her eyes became watery as she mumbled something I couldn't understand. It looked as though she was going to cry. She's done this quite a few time recently and I'm not sure what to make of it but it appears that she is sad or upset about something.

"What's wrong mom? What's the matter?" I asked. I couldn't understand what she was saying but it hurt my heart to see her visibly upset over something, especially not knowing what I could do to help her.

In the end, we got her hair mostly dry, but to be honest I'm not really sure if she noticed the difference! I'm not sure if it will click over time or if she will forever mourn the loss of her blow dryer.

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