Woohoo! JoAnn has given us our inaugural reader story! Thanks a million, JoAnn.
My mother-in-law, Rose, suffered with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago. When Rose was ill, I found humor in so many places with her. We moved Rose into a memory care facility shortly after her husband’s passing. She did okay there, but having a private aide help out was a huge help and gave us peace of mind that Rose was getting an extra bit of TLC when we were not around.
When we did visit, we’d send Angela (Rose’s aide) out for a little breather. Alzheimer’s disease caused my sweet as sugar mother-in-law to occasionally become physical and angry. Angela took the brunt of this, but she always had a smile and would share funny stories of their time together. I’m so sad Angela was out of the room when Rose cracked us all up this time.
My husband and I, his brother and his wife, and at least a couple of the grandkids had been visiting Rose one afternoon when I guess she decided she’d had enough. She didn’t ask us to leave, but instead laid down on her bed, closed her eyes, and pretended to be asleep. Deep breathing and all.
But every once in a while she’d peek one eye open to see what was going on. She’d see all of us still there, roll her eyes, sigh audibly, and quickly squeeze her eyes shut again. You could almost hear her thinking: Geez, are they STILL here? What’s up with these people? Can’t they see I’m sleeping?
We all started laughing and finally she sat up and laughed with us. These are the moments I choose to remember with Rose.