and I might just need someone elses help to get you up off the floor
I don't normally pressure my husband to do things that he doesn't like/want to do. He doesn't socialize much and I've pretty well accepted the way he is. It's so bad that he often retreats to his office as soon as the doorbell rings. He won't even answer the door for me. But Wednesday night I really had to lay it on him hard. I don't think I've ever pressured him more than that night.
My next door neighbor, Sally, is 84 years old. She has almost 24-7 care in her home. I'm often 'on-call' when her care-taker goes out. And even though she can sometimes be a cantankerous old woman, I really care about her, actually love her I guess. A little over a year ago she fell and fractured her leg and ended up in a rehab place for about four months during which a nasty virus went around the place and she almost died. Anyway, I'm getting off track...
On Wednesday a lady named Lisa was sitting with her for a few hours in place of the regular guy. I was just sitting down to dinner when Lisa came knocking on the door. Sally fell in the bathroom and she needed help getting her off the floor. BTW, Sally is not a small woman. This is where my husband comes in. I know that we would need his help. It almost came down to me ordering him to help.
So we went over and there's Sally flat on her back on the bathroom floor. Now, she wasn't hurt - no broken bones or anything like that, she just can't get up on her own. The bathrooms pretty narrow and I don't see any possible way of getting her up off the floor. So I ask Lisa to go get a blanket. I have sally sit up and we put the blanket under her back. Then we kind of lift her bum and pull the blanket down some more. Lisa wanted to put Sally in bed but I knew there was no way we were going to be able to lift her up there. So I tell Lisa that we'll have to put her in her recliner. She has one of those fancy motorized ones. So, we literally drag her on the blanket out into the living room. We set the chair so it is lying flat and lift her using the blanket into the chair.
In hindsight I kind of feel bad because while we were in the process Sally's diaper fell down and her gown went up so that she was fully exposed to my husband. I wish I had thought to put a blanket over her. I'm sorry about that part. I digress again...
So, my husband slips out as soon as she's in her chair. I see him at home and he's pretty upset because I "made him" help.
I not so nicely reminded him that one day he might be the one lying on the floor and I might just need someone's help to get him up. He quieted down after that. You see he's 20 years older than me. It's likely that at some point I will be caring for him. And it's my opinion that one of the reasons we're on this planet is to help each other. I guess every once in a while we all need someone - even him - even if he doesn't want to admit it.