Well, that’s it. M and I have done our traveling for the year. All in two weekends.
That’s kind of sad, isn’t it? But trying to travel and being away from home with a dementia patient is not for the weak-willed or faint of heart.
Over Mother’s Day weekend, we drove to Atlanta to see the Atlanta Braves play the Philadelphia Phillies (baseball.) The drive down wasn’t bad – although traffic on I-85 was ridiculous the whole way there. M was in a good mood and excited about the games. Continue reading “Travel . . . Stop”
As we all knew it would, the missing hoodie was found. Everyone can relax now. The all-night vigils can cease.
While we were looking for it on Thursday, I asked M if he had worn it when he went with Older Son (OS) to cut grass, but he told me no – it had been too hot for him to have on his hoodie at that time. Continue reading “Hoodie – Lost and Found”
I saw the above image on my nephew’s Facebook feed this morning, and only Atlanta Braves fans will truly understand. Last night’s game was nothing short of a debacle. I had to call my dad when it was over to make sure he hadn’t had a stroke Continue reading “We’ll Get ‘Em Next Year . . .”
(Originally posted in Facebook on August 21, 2019)
Much better evening yesterday. The Braves were back on TV, so we had that to watch. And the Braves manager was ejected from the game within the first five minutes, Continue reading “The Boys of Summer”
(Originally posted in Facebook on August 20, 2019)
I’m always amazed how important routines and patterns that he can depend on have become to M. Not even big routines, like the alarm going off at 5 am and dinner at 6 pm . . . but Continue reading “Never Give Up!”
Great weekend, busy weekend. Lots of opportunities for M and I to spend time together and for me to really see how he is doing.
When I got home from work Friday, we had a notice in the mail that one of our cars needed the tags renewed. M was surprised – he thought that car’s registration wasn’t due until later in the year. He went outside and looked at the tag and then came back in and said, “That’s what I thought. The 8th month. It’s not due until October.”
It took a minute for what he said to register with me, but then I said “October’s not the 8th month.” Now, he should know this – his birthday is in October.
We went back and forth about whether or not October was the 8th month until he finally looked at the calendar on the wall and he started counting the months. But he was counting from the current month, so that put the 8th month at January. I had to walk over, start counting at January and show him that August was the 8th month, so the fact that we got the registration in the mail was fine.
We had a great time at the ball game Friday night and got to spend time with our across-the-street neighbors there. The fireworks after the game were fabulous and it was a fun evening.
But . . .
On the way home, he couldn’t stop telling me how to drive. Even though we’ve discussed HOW VERY MUCH it annoys me. When we got home and had another lovely discussion about it, this time, he brought out the martyr card – “I’m only trying to help you.”
If he REALLY wants to help me, he’ll be quiet – and let me drive in peace. More tomorrow about Saturday and Sunday.
I was upstairs in the kitchen last night when I heard M say “fight, fight, fight!” I thought he was watching the Braves baseball game, so I flew down the stairs – because the Braves don’t usually get into bench-clearing brawls – and there really was a fight! The pitcher for the Pirates and the Braves 3rd baseman were both ejected from the game – wow!
M is concerned because the transfer he was so excited about at work hasn’t happened yet. He’s starting to worry that “something” has happened, but he doesn’t know – or can’t say – what that something is. I’ve suggested he talk to a friend of his who works in the HR department, but he hasn’t done it yet. Of course, this could be the beginning of the end of his job – or it could be that the wheels are s-l-o-w-l-y turning and it will all come together soon. It really could go either way.
Good days, challenging days. Blessed days, forgotten days. There are days that you want to remember forever and days that you really don’t.
Yesterday, I asked M to clean up some of the outdoor toys for the grandchildren to play with when they came to the house. I had gotten a bucket and sponge together and handed them to M, along with a bottle of dish soap and told him what needed to be cleaned.
M: Do I need to put water in here? Me: Yes, you’ll need water. M: Should I use hot or cold water? Me: It’s up to you. Do you want to clean the toys with hot or cold water?
He seemed very confused by the whole process, but eventually got the job done. Our grandson had a great time hunting for Easter eggs at the house and loved playing with all the freshly cleaned toys. Win!
Later, my daughter-in-law told me that my sons had talked to M about taking a guy’s road trip to Philadelphia for a Phillies baseball game this summer, but that M hadn’t seemed interested in doing it. WHAT?!?!
I talked to him about it later, after everyone had gone home and he didn’t say much. Just that he wasn’t sure about the time and that he knew he couldn’t miss work.
As long as it’s a weekend trip, these are the things he NEEDS to be doing now – while he can. I want to encourage it and I’m so grateful to our boys for thinking of it. I’m going to talk it up and do everything I can to make it happen. I think it will be a great thing and something the boys will always remember.
M and I had a really good evening together last night. Baseball is back – so we enjoyed watching the Braves on TV again. We had enjoyable conversations and a good dinner. We put together the list of things he needs to do every evening to make sure he is ready for work the next morning and I went to bed feeling really good about the entire day.
This morning, as he was getting his things together for work, he got his lunchbox out of the pantry. Suddenly on the counter, he had his turkey sandwich sitting there, but I hadn’t seen him get it out of the refrigerator. I started not to say anything, but I had to ask – where did your sandwich come from?
It had been in his lunch box overnight. When he made his sandwich the night before, he put it in his lunchbox and put the lunchbox in the pantry – rather than putting the sandwich in the refrigerator overnight. I wouldn’t have eaten it, but he wasn’t worried about it.
It should be a good weekend. We’ll go to the butcher shop and try to get the Keto diet kick started again. M is ready to get some yard work started, which will be nice . . . and a good change from sitting in front of the TV all weekend. Hope the weather will cooperate!
