Happy Mother's Day Wednesday

 

I didn't go visit Mom yesterday. Yes, I know it was Mother's Day. I'm sure that Mom knew it was Mother's Day. The thing is that by this morning Mom won't remember that yesterday was Mother's Day. The last year has been hard for her. When you're ninety nine years old with short term memory problems, you can't lose a whole year to hibernation. For most of the last year Mom was confined to her little apartment and not allowed any visitors. No stimulation other than her aide that would bring her meals. No racing up and down the halls of The Crossing in her Hoverround. No visits from her children bearing bakery goods. Nobody allowed to visit on holidays or her birthday. Sure, they had the Plexiglas box for us to visit for a few months. The problem is that Mom likes heat. Eighty degrees is too chilly for her. That Plexiglas box was nowhere near warm enough, so visits didn't last long. Anyway, that is all over now. I have been trying to visit every Wednesday since they opened up again, but it is hard to spark any interest from Mom. She's usually sleepy and conversation is difficult because her hearing has declined drastically. After a few minutes of loudly repeating myself, we both give up because Mom is tired of saying 'What?' and I have given myself a headache. There is only one way to make a visit to Mom work. Either bring a small child with you, or bring a small and friendly dog with you. Mom loves both of those things and it really brings her spirits up. My problem is that I don't have any small children, and my dog does not behave when I bring her to see Mom. So I bring Mom baked goods. That gives me about ten minutes to quietly watch Mom as she tears into that. The rest of the hour is spent watching her nod off, or trying to have that loud conversation. Seriously, that place should have a small child lending service at the entrance. Either that or a puppy rental. I would definitely pay somebody to loan me their kid for an hour.