This morning at around 2:00 AM I was able to perform an "Olympic-style squat", lifting approximately 160 pounds. Actually, it could have been 170 pounds as she claims to be 160 but don't we all fudge our weight a bit? Let me start at the beginning. At 1:00 AM I received a phone call from The M-I-L's alarm company saying her medic alert had been activated and could I go open the door for the emergency personnel. I told them, again, that I don't live in the same town as her and asked had they phoned The Favoured Son. They said they had but there was no answer. So I hang up with the alarm company and call The Favoured Son to discover they have sprung for an answering machine that only rings twice before it picks up. I don't 'do' messages so I hung up and went to wake up DH, who had been sleeping for a whole two hours. He called his brother and left a message that we were headed over to their mom's place. When we pulled up in front of her house the lights were on and I could see her standing in the living room. As we let ourselves in she started heading for her walker which she had left on the other side of the room with her cane. She almost made it but as she reached for the handles of the walker she tipped over and fell. I was able to catch her by the shoulders and prevent her head from striking the floor. She didn't want to get up right away so DH fetched her a pillow and she explained that she had fallen in the kitchen earlier and couldn't get up so she activated her medic alert for help. This was her second fall in one night. She told us she had hurt her back in a third fall and was taking Tylenol 3s for that. When she was ready, DH helped her into a sitting position and I heaved her dead weight to her feet. The two of us shuffled her over to her favourite chair and helped her get comfortable. We hung around for a bit to make sure she was all right, declining offers of coffee and ice cream. Then we tucking her into bed and left. We got home around 3:30 AM and I managed four hours of sleep before the neighbourhood noises started up. The Favoured Son never did call us back. He had better be on vacation. This is getting to be ridiculous. The poor woman needs to be in a care facility. She ordered pizza yesterday because she couldn't make herself a meal. She doesn't even like pizza. Does The Favoured One see her so often he hasn't noticed her decline? What is he waiting for?