After such an emotional weekend I walked into the nursing home yesterday with no idea of what to expect. I was surprised to find my mother in her wheelchair and returning from physical therapy or Physical Education as she calls it. I think I learned today that we are at a point where things can change in a moment. There will be bad days and hopefully more good days to come. I also learned that sometimes the best intentions may not be the best thing for someone. I think I have been too close to the situation to be objective. I need to take a step back and let the staff tend to some of the issues such as feeding. My presence isn’t having an impact one way or the other and I believe my mother sometimes regresses when I am around and I just react emotionally. This being a parent of a parent is really very much like parenting children. They act better for other people than they do for you. Thank goodness! The best part of being in the nursing home is getting to know the other residents. They are all so cute and you can’t help but fall in love with them all. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Cecil. He’s one of the “characters” in the home. He is confined to his wheelchair but tries escaping every time he gets an opportunity. His chair is alarmed just in case he tries to get out of it. The alarm goes off frequently and it is really quite loud. Every time I hear his alarm sound it is followed by Cecil yelling “fire drill, get out, get out”. He was outside my mother’s room the other day when she was in bed and feeling so sick. He kept asking who that old woman was and the nurse kept telling him she’s not an old woman and it was none of his business anyway. I couldn’t help getting tickled and thinking about how insulted my mother would have been if she knew he was referring to her as an old woman. Then there is Bertha, she is my mother’s meal partner and even though neither of them can hear the other Bertha talks and talks and doesn’t seem to notice my mother never responds. Bertha is 97 and sharp as a tack. Her husband worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and she mentioned she attended the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in passing one day as though it was nothing more than a trip to the store. She said, “We were in town so it seemed like something to do”. Bertha has also been perturbed for a week because she believes it was my mother’s fault she was left in bed until 3pm last Monday. According to Bertha they gave her lift to my mother and left her high and dry. One week later she is still a bit miffed over the incident. Another lady of interest is Miss Mary. Mary shuffles along on her walker up and down the hall always with the look of someone not quite sure which turn to take. I hear her often ask for directions to her room. And then there is Joe. He has an air of dignity about him. I haven’t quite figured out why he is there as he appears to be very independent. He is dressed to the 9’s and sips his morning coffee in the dining room as if he were in the fanciest bistro and perusing the morning paper. I wish I knew all their stories for I’m sure there would be some interesting tales indeed.