MOTHER'S WISDOM

By Peggy Page

September 2, 2015 

My first born came into this world December 22, 1959, weighing 9 lbs. 7 oz., and 22 1/2 inches long.  I finally understood with empathy the feelings of Mary as she held her newborn son Jesus Christ in her arms.  We brought Jeff home on Christmas Day - one of the happiest and proudest days of our lives.

His first home was a 2 room chicken coop that had a cellar which had the main well located in it.  We called it the "Cabin," which had been Jay and his brother LeRoy's abode since they were very young.  His grandparents owned 40 acres in Bluffdale with a very large mink ranch, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.  They grew alfalfa, corn, and nice pastures for the horses. 

We had his name chosen before he arrived, Jeffrey Jay Page, Jay being his father's name.  As every newborn, Jeff had to learn to swallow to enable him to receive nourishment to survive.  Through the next year he learned to feed himself as well as briefly crawling, then walking/running.  He came to us with built in self-determination and direction he wanted his life to be independent, creative, curious in every aspect of his achievements.  Talking and communicating his wants and questions that challenged us to answer him quick enough to satisfy his pursuit to know and understand his world and how to live in it.  Determination was his guiding force, a go-go baby, a go-go toddler, a go-go child, a go-go adolescent, a go-go teenager and of course a go-go man.

At the age of 14 months old I put him in a pair of training pants to hopefully get him potty trained before his baby sister would arrive 5 months later.  I can still see the picture in my mind.  Besides the cotton training pants, he had on a T shirt, his little blue fedora hat and his socks.  He was holding the dust mop pushing it around the floor when, Oh Oh, he peed down his legs onto the floor and on his socks.  He stopped and looked over what had happened and I explained all about using the toilet.  That was it!  He never wet or soiled his pants again; talk about instant potty training.  This was the way he learned to live in this world in all aspects, grasping even the tiniest pieces of knowledge to succeed; playful, creative, always busy and always tuned in. 

In our little home we had a glass candy dish with a lid.  Way after Jeff went to sleep for the night, no matter how quietly his dad tried to open the candy dish for a treat, Jeff would hear it and pop up in the corner of his crib, peek around the room opening and say, "Canny" for candy. Jeff was always fine tuned in.  He grew from a chubby, curly blond haired, green eyed, baby to a 6 foot dark brown, still curly haired man - always slim, trim and strong.

Almost 56 years has passed; now Jeff has restarted and learned to swallow again to enable him to receive nourishment to survive.   Small steps at a time through this next year he will shape his life in to the go-go man once again.  His new attribute will be patience, hand to hand with determination.

I am so fortunate to be his mother, to be with him every day, to be able to help him in anyway, from ordering his meals to arranging his flight home and beginning rehab at IMC in Murray.  Outpatient rehab will be in Sandy, at Neuorworx, when he is released fom inpatient rehab.

 

We laugh, we reminisce and talk of the future.  Jeff is making me smarter in the use of my smart phone.  I am amazed how he can instruct us in detail in using his computer, tablet and phone.  Jeff is directing his own care; the entire staff appreciates his involvement.  His bluntness and sarcasm  keep them bantering and laughing along with us.  I am so grateful for the Lord's blessing in giving me the strength, calmness, and the ability to handle the details needed for his recovery.

I will have my firstborn into my old age - that I know.