When you're 96

Mom gets the spoils of my activities. She appreciates them more than I do.

Mom just started talking about "hunting" Easter eggs. Her terminology always tickles me, partly her midwest dialect, partly her 95+ years, partly her mind, still there, just not as fast as it once was. She tells us she didn't really date, she wasn't popular, then she goes on and on about guys asking her out and all the dances she went to.

Mom is quiet, shy, has never driven a car, and unfortunately after none of us could take care of her anymore, she was committed to a nursing home in August 2020 at the age of 91. She's always loved our mayor and frequently speaks of him. A few days ago she begged me to go to a banquet so I arranged transportation and then I surprised her. I've met the mayor a bunch of times so I asked him to meet Mom. She was thrilled! It's hard to see--Mom doesn't smile much, German descent, funny (hilarious) but not on purpose--I think I enjoyed this more than she did. It's so hard to get Mom to smile!

Early 2018--trying to wash bed clothes and chat with Mom while Batman and Chewy decide to play on the bed. Mom (at 88 years old) has no clue what I'm going through and keeps chatting and repeating things as if I'm listening to every word she says and so I'm trying to control both of them. She wants a new vacuum cleaner and new glasses and I'm trying to stress to her that if she picked up her new glasses first, she'd be better able to see the vacuum cleaners---but she's notorious for not staying on topic--Calgon, take me away!!!!

Mom got a new TV and a new remote, and she was complaining about the complexity of it all. So in my visit, I set out to learn the remote and teach her. I found her new TV can get youtube and while goofing with the voice command remote, the video I published a few days ago popped up on Mom's TV and it was like when Chewy saw dogs walked on TV--I thought she was going to bark at herself!

Batman is snoring on my lap--can you hear him? Mom and I have little in common except the lives we've lived fairly closely for almost 39 years. I visit her about 6-9 hours a week and talk to her on the phone every day at least once, so we've run out of topics. She likes to talk politics but she's never been one to go deep into a topic. So it's no surprise we've run out of things to talk about during our 2 1/2 hour visits. I find ways to make it more fun. She does have a fixation with death and illness and negativity, so we've learned to tease her about that so we don't end up on antidepressants and in counseling.

This is Mom--she sits in her room all day and when we visit, she likes to tell stories of how her family and friends died. This one night, I caught her going over her phone list to see how many of her friends had died.

I never thought she'd be around this long! She's 95 but she can still make us laugh. I happened to be in the only remaining chair in the room and Mom started singing. I thought I'd let Chewy have a little fun and Batman decided to make this not suitable for children. Mom says I trained them to do this--how (why?) would I train dogs to do this?

Mom showed us her Mardis Gras mask--and the more she adjusted it, the more disturbing it became.

Batman and Chewy want to follow me around the nursing home, so I concoct a brilliant plan to keep them busy while I'm away.