Still dreaming

Been there, done that

Still dreaming of my bike trip.

But it was Mom yesterday and today.

She had a lot of attention when Son E and Sister S were in town. Was delighted with the boy: "He's so nice!" And he is.

Yesterday she seemed lovely and energetic compared to some of her bedraggled companions. The caregivers often put a little tasteful makeup on her and choose earrings that match her outfit -- a nice touch. We went downstairs and got her mail from the front desk and sat in the Bistro and went over it over coffee. It's all pretty much bills and junk, but she likes to hear my general explanations before concurring with me that we can throw most of it out.

I was startled yesterday, though, when she suddenly said, "Jon. It's just coming to me that your dad died."

"Yeah, Mom. He died four years ago."

She looked at me with big eyes. "I don't remember anything about it. I wasn't there."

"You were there, Mom. All the time."

She thought a bit. "I wonder if I was in Norway with the St. Olaf Choir when Dad died."

"No, you were there. In Ann Arbor. Do you remember him in the bedroom?"

"I was there?"

"You were there."

*

Today, church. We had a substitute preacher, a distinguished man with a rich beard wearing a huge kimono-like robe. He explicated a confounding parable and I liked it.

Mom can't quite follow a hymn lately, unless it's an old familiar one. She gets the Lord's Prayer pretty well.  We did communion, and then, at the end of the service, she shook the pastor's hand and said "Happy Easter."

Manitowoc