Friday, January 7, 2011

He Told His Sister What???

So as is the norm in our crazy life, Sunday is chore day.  Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, and other various errands.  I try to head out and do the running around earlie rin the day and leave the cleaning and stuff for last so I'm all set for work on Monday.  Of course, this is also the day that Bompa's sister and brother in law decide to visit.  I am at walmart, and jim calls my cell  to say they are here and hurry home.  I am thinking to myself, omg the house is a mess and there are 6 baskets of wet laundry waiting to go through the dryer from the laundromat since our washer is broken, and I'm sure Bompa has fallen asleep in some random place in his wheelchair because he does that now.  He heads somewhere and falls asleep on the way, his teeth fall out, he slumps to the left and it's a little off putting to see him like that if you're not used to it.  Jim  tells me that he is telling his sister that he is in jail here and that I don't feed him or take him to the Dr or let him use the phone.  OMG, then he asks her if he can go to her house.  Jim is mortified!  I, on the other hand am thinking, uhhh the man has dementia and it's pretty obvious by his deeper conversations.  But everyday pleasantries he can fake it with the best of them.  I could tell that she was concerned.  And I was starting to think to myself, omg, she thinks what he is saying is true...until the last story he tells.  It's about a man who kills somebody and fights with the police and then goes to prison.  When she asks him who he is talking about he says Stan.  (Stan is their brother and has never to my knowledge committed any murders or done any prison time)  That was the moment I think that she realized he was a just a few fries short of a happy meal.  She said her goodbyes and I walked her out.   My close friends and family know everything that goes on daily, weekly, monthly... They know the stresses, the laughs, the love and the committment it takes to deal with this.  I can't imagine what a 10 minute visit snapshot must look like from the outside looking in. I wish I had time to worry about that, but I don't because there's so much more to do today. 

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