Midlife’s A Trip

Mom, Dementia and Me–Whatever

Posted on 21. Nov, 2007 by Karen in Alzeimer's & Dementia, Misc

I visited my mother the other day at her assisted living facility.  Usually when I arrive, Mom’s face lights up.  In turn I light up because she still remembers me.  This day though I didn’t see that look.

Instead she looked at me like I was an annoyance, an interruption.  She was very focused on packing her room, as she does daily.  I know I’ve blogged before about my mother’s obsessive packing so don’t think I’ve forgotten.  It’s just that sometimes the shock of how bare her room is spills over yet another time into my postings here. 

During our visit Mom was completely focused on a wall shelf.  Now nothing’s on it but her dementia had her stuck in the observation that the shelf needed to come down.  Every time I explained to her that it was a fixture of the room, she looked at me with the look my son used to give me as a teenager.  That look of disdain.  That look that says "whatever".

Funny how I go through these experiences with my mother in her dementia that remind me of raising my son.  My sister says the same thing as she finds herself comparing her 3 year old with Mom.  Sometimes we laugh about this experience of parenting our parent.  And sometimes we just say "whatever." 

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