Barbara J. Hamby

I’m Turning Into My Mother

Every once in a while, in the last sixteen years since my mother’s death, I hear her voice coming out of my mouth—sometimes even her words. Today I had an even stronger experience. I’ve had a headache for about a week now. This morning I decided to send an email to my doctor to see if I should get tested for a low-grade infection or something. Before I could finish the email, the headache went away.

When I was caregiver for my mother the last few years of her life, I would often threaten to take her to the doctor if she didn’t get better by the next morning. She almost always did.

I think I have a clue about the source of the headache that has nothing to do with my mother. Over the past couple of years while I’ve been concentrating on weight loss and its maintenance, I’ve developed the habit of chewing sugar-free gum. When my jaws got tired this morning, I threw the gum out and shortly after that, the headache went away. I tried half a stick of gum a little later and the head began to ache again. I hate to think I have to give the gum chewing up, but whatever.

I’ll be happy to get back to my regular swimming schedule when the indoor pool reopens tomorrow.

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