Nurse Ratched catches a break

On the list of professions my Mom would have considered taking up, nursing was always rock bottom. Yet here she is taking care of me when I need so much more help than I did before I broke my leg. I cannot get on and off the scooter or toilet, or in and out of the bed or chair (pictured), without her help. The saving grace is that we make each other laugh so much. When she yanks a tight turtleneck off my head a little too hard, she says, "Hold on." When I point out that I dropped something in hopes that she will pick it up, she barks, "So?" When I mention that I cannot reach my remote control, her answer is, "Tough." When I ask her to get a book off the shelf for me, she tells me, "I'm off duty." A few giggles later, the task is complete. Yesterday, she maneuvered me into my reclining chair via my ceiling lift so I could take a 2-hour nap. Before I knew it, she had her camera out and was e-mailing the photo to the shortlist with the subject "Nurse Ratched catches a break!" The reference, as you may remember, is to the mean nurse in the 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Not only did Louise Fletcher win an Oscar for the role, the sadistic Nurse Ratched was named the 5th greatest villain in film history by the American Film Institute.

My Mom is a multi-tasker who doesn't like any down-time, so she can often be seen folding laundry or brushing her teeth while waiting for me to accomplish a task. She characterizes this new role as purgatory, and I consider it a step toward sainthood. Like our local newscaster said about Pope John Paul II, she has been "beautified."