Leaving Mom alone...

     It never ceases to amaze me, the things Mom remembers. Oh, she still knows the basics...husband's name and the fact that he's no longer with us, that she has 6 kids and can remember all of their names, and that she has a bunch of grandkids (although she will ask how many anytime the subject comes up). If I mention a grandchild's name, she knows exactly who I'm talking about, but if I show her a picture of one of them she may or may not be able to tell me which one it is. She tends to recognize the older ones easier than the younger ones, which makes sense. Other than that, her memory is pretty well limited to things that happened 50 years ago. However I've noticed that she will most likely remember the stuff that stresses her out...

Saturday morning I was doing laundry and she wanted to help me fold clothes. So we dumped them all out on her bed and proceeded to fold them. I took all of ours upstairs and she put her stack away in the drawers and closet. While we were folding clothes I told her that Stan and I were going to go to the track and watch qualifications that afternoon.  I'd never been to THE track in May, so we were going with some friends. In the next 3 or 4 hours before we left, she asked us 100 times about when we were leaving, when we'd be back, how long would we be gone, etc. She doesn't need 24/7 care, but we also don't usually leave her alone for more than a couple of hours at a time. And the neighbors were going to be home all day. I had talked to them the day before and they said they'd be around and check on her. And the 100 questions was the reason I didn't tell her sooner we were going to be gone. I knew the questions would come.

They started during breakfast. "How long are you going to be gone, today?" "What if someone calls?" When are you leaving?" What time will you be back?" What should I do while you're gone?" "What do I do if that little girl comes over?" (4 year old down the street). There were really only about 6 or 7 questions but she asked each of them about 5 times. I realized that she was a nervous wreck about being alone but she thought we were going to be gone all day.  I realized then that we should have just told her we were running errands. She's always ok with that.

So, we were all sitting on the porch, waiting for our friends to show up and she started a new line of questioning.  "When am I going to Mike and Sue's?" (she stays with them half the year).

I said, "Why, are you ready to go to Mike and Sue's?"

"No. Not necessarily, I just wondered. Someone said they were coming up to get me later. I just thought it was today."

My brother and I hadn't nailed down any plans for the switch yet, so I told her, "Mom, you're probably going to be here for at least 6 more weeks, maybe two months. Is that ok?"  She assured me that it was.

Then she said, "then why did someone have all my clothes out on my bed this morning? Like I was going somewhere?"

I reminded her then, "Mom, you and I were just folding the clothes on your bed, remember?"  And then I asked her, "you didn't pack your bags, did you?"

"Nope. Don't know where they are."

We went to the track and walked around a little while and took in all of the sights and sounds and smells that are the epitome of the Indianapolis 500 track during the month of May. I picked up a stuffed bear for Mom for Mother's Day (which she loved). And we were back by 4 pm. She was fine. The neighbors stopped over for a little bit to talk with her and she worked on her puzzle and kept the dogs company, which is her favorite thing to do, anyway.