Life Takes Yet Another Turn

As I mentioned in a previous post, my life has once again taken a giant turn in a direction I did not expect to take so soon.

My mother has moved in with me. I tried to get her to move in with me last June before her lease was up on her apartment, but she insisted she wanted to continue to live on her own. I wish I had been more persuasive, but I was selfish enough to want to experience my new life with the boys without any extra complications a little while longer.

I had no idea that my mother was in the condition she is in. She has always been a great bluffer, and I believe she should get a doctorate degree in bluffing now at the age of 85.

I discovered all kinds of things about my mother as I packed up her apartment. One being she never gets rid of anything, the other being that she had not been eating most of the groceries we had been buying her. I found cans of food hidden in very odd places, and lunchmeat stockpiled in the vegetable bin. I don't think she was eating anything but breakfast bars and peanut butter on bread. Her memory is very bad now, but she also talks about how she believes another Great Depression is coming and how we must be prepared this time. She will spend half a day talking about how they never knew where their next meal was coming from during that time.

She has done some strange things since moving in with us. Some of the things have made me laugh, others have sent me into a crying binge because I feel so horrible that she has been living the way she was and I didn't know. Oh, I knew she was slipping, but not as much as I have witnessed lately. Like I said she bluffs, plus she has a nurse that visits her and she didn't notice either. Mom still gets up and showers daily and then dresses up complete with makeup and her costume jewels. She makes her bed, listens to her cds, putters around the house, etc., making it seem as if she just has a few memory issues, but once you are around her for more than a couple of hours it is apparent that there are major issues. I am glad she is here now.

The boys quiz her when they are home, testing her to make sure she remembers as much as she can. Sometimes she teases them with her answers, sometimes she really can't answer, but I would say that currently 80% of the time she can answer, and that pleases the boys. They have been great about making this adjustment, and it has been quite an adjustment.

Every bedroom has been moved around, and we still cannot walk around the rooms yet. The boys are currently sharing a room, but I hope to change that next month and get everyone a room to call their own, even if the closet spaces will be strange for a while.

I try not to worry about the future too much, but it is hard not to when you have been down this path before. I'm glad she is here because she seems so happy to be here. I am happy she is here as it is easier on all of us, but I will be happier when my home is back to some semblance of organization and I know that everyone has a space to call their own.