Less than 3 weeks ago my mother fell and broke her femur at the joint of her hip. She was on vacation in Switzerland and required surgery.
About a week ago she returned to Canada where my sister and I looked after her.
My sister in the meantime has gone back to Vancouver and I stayed with my mom in the house to help her navigate her injury.
She has crutches and a walker.
She’s progressing well and getting better.
When she told me last night that she wanted to drop off her prescription for some more pain meds herself we agreed to take the trip to the store today.
Her pharmacy is inside a large grocery chain and since we were planning on having the family come over for dinner on the weekend, we decided to shop at the same time.
So I packed her walker into the car and off we went.
I dropped her off at the entrance and went to park the car. She walked slowly to the elevator and we went upstairs. While she made her way from the elevator to the produce section I went to get a cart and started shopping. I saw her lingering behind me every once in awhile… She knows the store better than I do, and went about her business shopping.
The walker has a seat which you can lift and she was able to put a few items into the little basket below. I would detour every once in awhile to pass by her and put her stuff into my cart.

At one point I was done with the produce and went into the grocery aisles. Mom was not far near the dairy section looking at butter and yogurt.
I left her there and went down the very long aisle to pick up various items for the kids to take home with them when I see them on Saturday. Then I went around the corner to come back up the next aisle.
The dairy section was straight ahead and I expected to see mom there.
She wasn’t.
I turned around the corner and looked to see if she followed me down the aisle, but she wasn’t there either.
I looked around the other aisle to see if she followed me there but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
So my eyes glance down the dairy section along the wall to see if maybe she had gone further, toward the freezer section.
The store was not very busy so it’s not like there were crowds of people blocking my line of vision.
Where was she?
Mom was missing. 😳
I’m thinking, it’s been 5 minutes and I already lost her? 😐
I kept picturing she had fallen someplace, or maybe she was sitting on the walker taking a rest…
I started pushing my cart faster, checking each aisle as I passed them to see if I could find her.
Finally I saw her at the very far corner next to the frozen pizza. Her walker was full of stuff and she stood against the glass doors of the freezer section.
Confused, I bemoaned my inability to properly supervise a senior with a serious injury.
How is it I can’t keep up with an injured senior using a walker?
I had one job… 😂
It’s probably a good thing I’m not in charge of toddlers anymore. 😛
Writers are distracted people.
Is that true? 🙂
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Lol
Yes! Everything you say or do will turn into content. 😛
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I’m just impressed that your grocery store has an elevator!
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😂
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I would be like your mother and be running up and down the aisles with my walker. I shouldn’t age myself, but I understand this independence streak and it is wonderful that “momma” has it.
Great story about real life and it’s your telling of it in your natural and skillful style that makes it live on the page. ❤️
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Thank you so much for this lovely comment. 🥰
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Caring for aging/injured parents is not easy. Thank you for this funny story with a good ending. I hope your mother recovers quickly, and you take care of yourself, too❤
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Thank you. We’re managing well, so far. I just have to keep an eye on her in stores… 😉
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Haha! For a second there I was like woah! Your trip to grocery store was quite full of twists!
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It was … interesting… 😀
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😉
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Oh my 😂
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Mother’s are worse than toddlers. I used to lose mine all the time!
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Lol
It’s good to see she’s gaining her independence back. 😉
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God made the mother as a super women. 🙏
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I was on pins and needles til you found her!
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😀
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Obviously you’re out of practice.
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Lol
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Thank god you didn’t report she had fallen. I was having horrible thoughts of ambulances and ER trips and other awful stuff. I’m sure she was tired out, but I bet it felt good to her in many ways to be out and functioning. I know if it was me I would be so grateful.
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She was quite happy and wondering why my shopping sequence of events was so different from hers! 😀
It went well. She was ready, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken her. But she is tired now… 🙂
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Was literally hooked to your story till the very end🙈😀😍Hope, she is recovering wonderfully 😊
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Why thank you for telling me!! 🥰
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I love this! I’m so glad she’s doing better. My Dad goes “missing” on all of us. We’ll look around and say, “Missing without a trace!”, giggling because we know his hiding spots now. What a precious post! 💛
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It was a strange experience, that’s for sure. 🙃
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Poor mother … did you get scolded for abandoning her?
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I’ll get scolded for writing about it! 😂
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You have a wonderful mom. Please thank her for me. 🥸
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Very funny.
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😂😂
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haha Claudette, this was funny!
I am sure it was scary when you were searching for her, but all is well that ends well.
Sending her blessings for a fast recovery! ♥♥
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Mom has always been strong and independent. 😉
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Those feisty senior citizens not behaving properly… Lol
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Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George pretended he had a disability or something… 😀
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Oh that’s right!
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