COMING TOGETHER--81

Today is Saturday. I left Mom yesterday afternoon with food, which she ate. This is gratifying to me. I am more confident that she will take care of herself with me gone.

This morning she remembered a bill to pay. She got herself up by 930am and ate cereal by herself. So I got her coffee from McDonalds. Now she is watching her new flat screen tv, which she loves. Actually I feel better about what we're doing than I have in some time.

Mom is eating food we have left over from previous days; I think this is a good thing. I am making her get out of her easy chair and prepare her own food. I don't think she wants to do for herself any more.

I gave her a shower today. I mentioned she needs a nurse to do this and she agreed, but more because she doesn't want me to have to do something I don't want. She thinks it is distasteful to me to do this; it is to some degree but not as much as she might think. Still, the fact she acknowledges that she needs a professional nurse is a giant step in the right direction.

One of her favorite tv shows is scheduled for tonight. It has not been on in 2 weeks. She hopes it is tonight. I think that would make the night go better, so I hope it is on, too.

It is very hot outside. Mom no longer walks around the apartment complex. She sits on the steps for a few minutes and then comes in. I wonder if she does this out of depression, or maybe she's just bored, or maybe she is lonely. I can't say. Still, I don't go out there with her and she doesn't ask me to, either.