Watching Dolphins and Whales, a 3-d movie at the IMAX Theatre.This afternoon as we were getting ready to go out, Mom demanded: "Now tell me where I keep my purse." I pointed to the bottom drawer next to her bed. "Yes, you're right! Only sometimes I'll put it in the top drawer, or the second or third drawer. And usually I'll put some junk on top of it."
She's convinced people are coming in and out of her apartment and taking things. Sometimes they rearrange things. Other times they leave things that don't belong to her.
We checked her purse to make sure she had her sunglasses and her lipstick and her envelope with the twenty dollar bill. She pulled a pink comb out. "Is this your comb?" she asked me. "No!" "Well it's not mine." "Oh. I guess someone snuck into your apartment, searched for your purse and deposited the comb in it." She laughed.
We headed to Belk to look for summer pants and polo shirts. (She had been wearing a pair of white wool pants the day before in the 95 degree heat.) We had fun trying on pants, and left with 2 great pairs. As we were approaching the cash register, a woman who had just paid for her own clothes handed me a raggedy $10-off coupon, good for today only. In a hushed voice she explained that she had already used it, and asked if would I like it. Sweet! So I showed it, and got a $10 discount. We were walking out the door to the parking lot, and I saw another woman looking through the sale racks. I hesitated, then walked over and asked her if she'd like the coupon, repeating that today was the last day it was good and that we had already used it. She eagerly accepted it. This whole scenario thrilled my mom. It was magical to her. I loved it too and wondered how many hands the coupon had been through--the stories that coupon could tell--the merchandise that coupon had seen.
Then we hit the Piccadilly, which is the cafeteria right next to Sears. Mom got watermelon, green beans and carrot salad. And a tiny blueberry muffin. And a coke. She declared the meal the best she had ever had. She asked how much the bill was.
Me: $18.
Mom: Well I have a twenty dollar bill and I'd like to be the hostess.
Me: Oh thank you! But let me put it on my card. That way, Margaret can reimburse me if you'd like to buy, and you can keep your twenty. Otherwise, I'll just be giving you a twenty when I leave.
Mom: These muffins are superb.
Me: Should we get some to go for breakfast?
Mom: Will they let us do that?
Me: Sure!
Mom: Can I afford it?
As we were leaving, she told the cashier that this place should be rated up with Disneyland.
But back to dinner for a minute: Mom told me that for a while now she had been thinking she had 3 daughters. I said, "Mom. Did you have a daughter you never told me about?" She assured me that she hadn't; that her thinking had just been confused. But she told me she had never thought of me as her oldest daughter (which I am), so I asked her again if she was sure she hadn't had a daughter before I was born (who maybe had died?) No.
When I was leaving her apt. to come back to my room, she said, "You have your coat, don't you? It's cold out there. After all, it's February, isn't it?"
I gave her a look and said, " Noooooooooooooo." She said, "March, April, MAY! It's May isn't it."
Yesterday we went to the IMAX Theatre to see Dolphins and Whales, a 3-d movie. As we were making our way VERY SLOWLY down the sidewalk we passed a parked police car with a cop sitting in it. My mom yelled over at him: "Do you have your dog in there with you?" He said, "No, I had to drop him off!" Only then I noticed that the car said K-9.
She had clipped an article out of the paper this week about how a company in Chattanooga has begun converting methane gas (from landfills) into electricity. Then the company sells it to Tennessee Valley Authority. She was elated. She kept asking, "Why isn't this on the front page? Why isn't this the headline?"
