Happy Mother's Day...

I went by this morning to see mom and other than her hair looking terrible, she was bathed, dressed and watching the show on TV where brides come to choose their dresses.  Mom had me rolling at one point when she kept saying over and over "she's just too FAT".  Fat, fat, fat was the buzzword for at least 15 minutes and it wasn't even the bride--it was her mom. 

While I tried to make some sort of order out of the bird's nest of mom's hair--she had so much setting junk in it, it was all crispy--she narrated about the show.  Most of it was gibberish but sometimes she'd say something hilarious and then she'd laugh when I did.  Since she was almost out of perfume, this morning I decided to give her my bottle of Kate Spade--the original one--not the new one.  She and I became Kate Spade hoarders after they stopped making the original because neither of us liked the new one and were just pissed when they quit making it.   The first thing I did was show it to her when I got there, and then I gave her a pouf or two of it.  She immediately recognized the smell because her face lit up, and when she couldn't remember the name, I told her.  After that, she kept saying Kate Spade, Kate Spade, with a big old smile. 

I went back after lunch to take her some Mother's Day flowers and she was sound asleep.  I went down the hall to the nurses station to check in with them, and they mentioned she was exhausted after lunch, and that's exactly how she looked in her sleep--wiped out.  That's when the sads hit me.  I never know when I'm going to get ambushed by them and I guess the realization that this is most likely my last Mother's Day with mom, certainly prodded that feeling to surface.  Then I realized how much I love the staff over there and how much they have become a part of my everyday life.  I will actually miss them when mom is gone.  I know that sounds weird but it's really the truth.

Before I left, I went upstairs to get a cup of coffee since I needed a little java jolt.  I stopped to tell some of the caregivers at the desk Happy Mother's Day, and how much I missed being able to come upstairs to the Assisted Living dining room to have lunch with mom.  I told them it just makes me too sad to eat with her on Memory Care, and they totally got it.  They immediately started telling me about how mom always tells them she "wants out of this damn wheelchair" when she comes upstairs to get her hair done, and they all laugh with her.  I could tell they weren't making it up because mom says that all the time.

  I didn't realize they even knew who my mom was or that she was my mother.  It made me teary to know she has friends all over who will look after her, and play with her.  Those people are amazing and I am so grateful for them.

Happy Mother's Day to all.