"Mother," of course!Our momma worked crossword puzzles like her life depended on it. And maybe, in a way, it did. Until the very end of her life, Mom was mentally acute in a way that defied the odds. At 94, she could recall things more accurately than I could, and she kept her mind sharp, in part, by doing crosswords and by keeping interested in everything and everyone around her. I knew she was enjoying herself at First Community Village when she told me only a few weeks before she died that she was so busy visiting with people, especially her two good friends there, that she didn't have time for her puzzles.
For years and years, Mom worked crosswords night and day. When she developed carpal tunnel syndrome, she hastened to have surgery so that she could do her puzzles and keep track of the checkbook and send her notes and cards -- all of the things that sustained her. She was an exacting person -- and an organized one -- and it was vitally important to her that her mind stay sharp. I suppose partly it was to make up for Dad's increasing dementia, but I suspect doing crosswords had other benefits.
For one thing, while she was busy working her puzzles, she could tune out discord, including our dad, and lose herself in her puzzles. I know that I've used puzzles as an escape of sorts. For another, completing a crossword puzzle feels like an accomplishment, no matter how small, and Mom was always one to finish a job once she had started it. There's a sense that if we can get everything correct in the puzzle, we can keep some kind of grip on the world around us.
There is also something orderly and soothing about doing a crossword puzzle, and it's fun to encounter new words or new meanings.
So, what has ten letters, begins with a "d" and describes our mom? That would be "determined." That woman was as determined as anyone I've ever known. There were very few things she couldn't do if she set her mind to it, and that mind was as sharp as a tack, right to the very end of her life.
2 comments:
Nan, very clever little blog on our "Crossword Puzzle Queen" - Mom would be thrilled with this one :)
After Mom got to First Community, she not only worked her puzzles; but mixed in book reading. She polished off one book after another, then made sure she passed them on to her friends, telling them to be sure to pass them on; and if she felt it was taking them too long to finish the book and pass it on; she would make a trip to her room to find out why she still had the book ! She felt responsible for each book she passed on, making sure it made it to its destination, which was back to the library-I loved that in her! She was the most responsible person I know, and oh, how I miss her!
Oh, thank you, Nanny! I knew you would know just how to write this!! :) You've captured Momma, all right!
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