Monday Memories With My Mom

The Adventures of Caring for a Mom With Alzheimer's Disease
     Let's pretend it's still Monday...  I knew that the American House, where my is living was hosting a Mother's Day tea on the Saturday before Mother's Day.  Unfortunately, I was too late in responding to the invite (I felt bad...I was out of town) and it was already full.  I was still hoping we could all celebrate Mother's Day with my mom on Saturday so all of us (minus Megan who was volunteering at school) took my mom out to lunch.  OK, so we didn't take her to the fanciest place....it was Five Guys Burgers and Fries!  We were on a tight schedule and I knew her friend had just taken her to Olive Garden the day before.  Besides, just getting out is the fun! 
     First, we brought Grandma a potted flower arrangement for her balcony, a new (Jennifer Lopez!) nightgown and some new pillows!  She was happy.  We also had lots of fun at Five Guys and my kids love "playing" with their pop machines and getting all of us pop (Diet Coke in every flavor). 
  

    It happened that the conversation of the day revolved around two things. My mom mentioned numerous times that they have a computer room in her building and that she is going to go on ancestry.com and search her family name. Again, and again, and again. We told her she should do a commercial. There was a time when she was emailing and doing some basic computer things. It is amazing how certain things "stick" in her mind. We assured her that we would also be checking ancestry.com.
      The other thing was a story that the exercise room in her building used to be a swimming pool and how she and everyone else wishes it still was. I am not sure if this "fun fact" is true, but I guess it is possible... (Can you imagine the liability?) Kristin told her many times that she was glad it wasn't a pool so that she wouldn't get hurt.
      After an hour and a half of ancestry.com and the swimming pool story with various diversions we tried to mix in, we were on our way.

      Kristin, Megan and I ended up stopping by for another visit on Mother's Day. Megan had not been in awhile so I thought we would make another quick visit. I was glad to see my mom was standing out on her balcony taking in the nice day. We had a nice visit, talked about ancestry.com again, etc... Somehow, we also got on the subject of pets at which time my mom admitted that she would like to get a big bird cage and have a pet chipmunk!!!   We got a good laugh out of that. Admittedly, they are cute little things and we do happen to have several sneaking in our garage on a daily basis, but can you imagine caging a chipmunk!!??          

     Thankfully, my mom knew it was not realistic, just what she would like!!   No matter the topic of the day, where we are or what we are doing, we still love my mom and the kids love their grandma.  She remains in a good place, upbeat and happy!!