Time slipped away while caring for mother

Where did September go? October is more than half over and I have completely missed it. Soon it will be time to vote. Then it will be Christmas shopping, followed by cold and snow.
Whatever happened to long, lazy days filled with hikes through the woods? Whatever happened to bags filled with tulip and daffodil bulbs waiting to be planted? I even missed the last minute panic induced by the first frost warnings.
While I was running from one hospital to another, the world went on without me. Now, my loved ones are almost back to normal. My husband’s new knee is functioning as it should and he is no longer dependent upon his cane. A few more weeks of physical therapy and he will be back to normal, minus the pain he has felt for years.
My mother is home safely and complaining about any and everything, so she is back to her usual self. She has two doctor’s appointments next week but I am not expecting any new problems unless the transportation department decides to close the remaining roads between here and there.
One brother is on a cruise for his wife’s 40th birthday. Yes, his wife went with him. The other one is facing a visit to the hospital to take care of yet another kidney stone. He was fine last week when he stopped by here and will be fine again in a day or so.
The grandchildren are adjusting to the demands of school and are busy picking out Halloween costumes. Spiderman has been a favorite in years past. The youngest wants to know when we are coming down again. As much as we enjoy the visits, we aren’t quite ready for that long of a drive.
The evil black squirrels have made allies with the gray squirrels and are harvesting the corn they planted in the middle of my half-dead Daphne shrub. I’m not expecting Daphne to survive the winter. Then, again, she may like having field corn planted in her middle.
I feel out of sync with the calendar. I haven’t bought the first flower bulb this year. For the first time ever the houseplants made it inside well before any frost warnings were issued. Half of the garden has already been cleaned out, a task I usually leave until spring. One lonely cucumber still dangles on its vine. I am in a race with slugs to harvest the last of the tomatoes. I didn’t even realize that slugs liked tomatoes until I brushed a couple of them out of the holes they had created. That is what happens when I avoid pesticides.
It seems odd that it is almost Halloween. I haven’t gotten my little witches out of storage yet. If they were real witches they would unpack themselves. Maybe they would even stir up a potion or two that would take care of the slugs.
Yes, life goes on. Newspapers tell of trouble in the Middle East, like they have reported for most of my life. Dread diseases remind us of our mortality. The media is constantly telling us that the world is falling apart.
Through it all, babies are born. Bodies heal. Flowers grow. Hugs are given. Children laugh. The universe is unfolding as it should. I may be surprised by how fast time has flown but somewhere is a child who is playing in the leaves and thinking that September and October have lasted forever.