Sometimes I really can’t believe my mother. She is elderly and needs a lot of care and help sometimes. She raised me for most of my life, so caring for her is the least I can do. The only issue is that she doesn’t want anyone to care for her. She would rather sit in silence and discomfort before asking anyone for help. I think a big part of it is because she doesn’t want to ask for help. Getting older must be hard. You’re once a very strong and independent person, only to revert to being a baby all over again. I went to visit her yesterday and I noticed she had four jumpers on while her house was freezing. I asked her why that was and she refused to give me a straight answer. I decided to take matters into my own hands and inspect her heating system. Just as I suspected, it was clear her heater needs servicing. Canberra can get extremely chilly and rather than communicating to me that her heater had gone out, she decided to not speak up. I think she was a bit nervous as to how much the heater servicing would cost.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. I noticed one day she kept washing her clothes in the sink. It turned out to be that her washing machine had broken down the week before and she had chosen to just not say anything! Later that day I had sorted out a new washing machine for her, and today I will do the same for the heater. I have arranged ducted heater servicing. Canberra isn’t exactly a busy or bustling city so it was quite easy to get someone to pop by this afternoon and take a look at the heater. I really wish in future that she would simply tell me things rather than sitting in discomfort. She keeps telling me that she says nothing as she doesn’t want to stress me out or be an inconvenience. She doesn’t realise that not telling me actually causes more stress!