Another Glimpse Into Our Life with Mom

Believe it or not mom escaped the baracade.  I don't know how she did it but it happened after a very wrestless evening.  It was Saturday night and Michael had put his two guitars, a laptop bag and a case of instruments by the front door, ready to go for our children's ministry at church the next morning.  In retrospect I believe she saw the 'luggage' and thought we were going on a trip.  She came out of her room no less than twenty times, dressed and ready for church.  I had made the mistake of letting her know that she was going to spend time with Sylvia and going to church in the morning. "No, mom, it's still Saturday, let's get you back to bed". "Oh? Really?"  She would back to her room and 2 minutes later, there she was again.

 I finally assisted her back to bed, and I decided to lay in bed with her.  Funny mom would start snoring within a few minutes (pretending to sleep) then she would hop up and say "Boo!"  Well, that wasn't working. So we stayed up a bit and she asked if she should pack up everything and asked where we were going?  I hadn't put two and two together with all of Michael's stuff by the front door until the next morning. Finally she layed down and would drift to sleep and then suddenly she would sit straight up and get out of bed with the mission to get dressed. Eventually she told me that she would be all right and she wanted to read for a while.  I was exhausted and later I checked on her and she finally did sleep. 

The next morning she got up and spent some time with Sylvia.  I was able to go to church on my own although we had to leave early because Michael was not feeling well. But there has been additional surprising behaviors and I feel I should actually be writing them down while they are happening because they are so 'out there' it's practically impossible to relay them later.  For instance, she started growling like a dog while walking down the hallway.

Once she told me to whisper because we were in a contest, she started taking small baby steps and saying shhhhh shhhh, they can hear us.   Mom has started hiding a great deal of clothes under her bed. I cannot find her glasses again. Thank goodness I have a back up pair.  The other morning I wanted to give her a shower after she had agreed to do so.  I turned on the light in the bathroom and she quickly came over to search for the switch to turn off the light and she hit me.  (Not hard) But then she refused to bathe. I decided to help her dress and she said to be quiet "they can hear us"....I went to open the blinds and she hit me agian, 'No, no,no."  I finally said "Okay, mom, you need to go back to bed. You don't have your smiles this morning." Surprisingly she did without a fight and woke up later much happier.  This pattern has happened a few mornings.  Bathing has become a real challenge.

Today she got up and came in the hallway...'You people, what are you doing, I have to move from here'.  "Okay mom, we'll talk about it".  She had just had gotten out of bed and was barely awake.  10 minutes later, she was fine.  One word fits all this behavior and it is "Bazaar".  Betty, her friend came and picked her up for the  Senior study and as I was walking them to the car, I just looked at Betty and said one word, 'borderline'. She knew what I meant but Betty has a 'way' and just cheerily got mom in the car and they drove off.  Ahhhh a little time for myself.

This afternoon throughout the evening mom was acting very distant.  She spent quite a bit of time in her room. She shuffles clothes around, trying on this and that.  I would check on her and she was pleasant but distant.  We had dinner and she was a bit resistent to get ready for bed.  I didn't mind her staying up a little later.  She asked me if there were more 'activities' tonight and was there a meeting she was missing.  After we finally got settled into her PJ's and I went to get her some warm milk at her request, we had our prayertime.  She asked me to pray and when I was finished she said...it's so nice to have a good friend.
I realized then she had no idea I was her daughter.

I believe it's about 50/50 that she recognizes me.  The other morning she tilted her head and smiled and told me I reminded her of her daughter. After I told her I was Norma, she seemed a bit embarrassed.  Later she apologized.  Hmmm, I don't want to make her feel bad.  I may have to rethink correcting her.

As I have come back to finish this blog I have to express my thankfulness for a very pleasant day.  It is actually Thanksgiving Day.  We had a nice dinner at a community where my sister was working today. We will be celebrating Saturday with all my kids, keeping everyone off the busy freeways today. It was a very different Thanksgiving, but mom seemed to really enjoy herself and we had fun.  She has asked about getting together with the rest of the family several times, so I know she has missed everyone.  We'll make sure Christmas will be more of a family affair.