Love our weekly outings!

May 21, 2014

On the mountain across from Hogle Zoo, May 2014

I called and talked to my Mom briefly yesterday to tell her that we are going out of town for a few days for Memorial Day weekend, and that I won't be able to go on our usual, weekly outing this week.  She was just as socially gracious as ever!  "Oh, don't even worry about it!"  "We can go when you get back!"  "You need a vacation!"  "Drive safe and have a good time!"  "We'll have some fun when you get home!"  When I was telling her some of the things that we can do when I get home, she says, "I would love that!"  Those are totally things that my Mom would have said with her healthy mind too!  I just love how positive she is and how happy she seems right now!  I see it as a tender mercy in the midst of this difficult time!  A little positivity goes a long way!  

Our weekly outing last week consisted of a hike on a mountain near their home.  In fact, it's so close that we walked there from my parent's house.  We walked/climbed half way up a very tall mountain and were wishing we had enough time to go all the way to the top!  We've done it a few times before in past years, but I had to get home to get my son to his baseball game.  Next time we're going to go with my Dad and go all the way to the top!  Interestingly, my plan was to cut across a trail that goes along the bottom of the mountain and leads to a Children's Museum by the University of Utah, but it was her idea to head straight up!  I'm so glad we did because we found a cool trail that I want to try again!  It wasn't too steep and was a beautiful trail, lined with flowers of every color.  We decided the only color that was missing in the array of flowers was red, our favorite!  My Mom and I had a great time picking a few of the flowers, wearing them behind our ears, and enjoying the day!  Mom ended up with 3 or 4 flowers down her shirt, poking out the top, since she didn't know where else to put them. I think she may have ended up with a few of them down her shirt too!  :)  

My Mom got a little mixed up as to what mountain we were on and seemed very surprised to see the zoo right across the street when we got down to the bottom.  I believe she was thinking we were in the hills up above the Salt Lake Cemetery, where we went a month or so ago.  She was thrown off and disoriented for a bit! During our walk that day, she kept talking again about that "school on the hill" where she used to teach and where she wants to get a job.  And then she thought the tall apartment buildings at the end of her street was a hospital where she used to work.  She told me stories of when she was a nurse at the hospital . . . I think LDS Hospital up on the avenues of Salt Lake City. 


Cutest event of the whole day was when my Mom gave my Dad a big kiss right before we left on our trek.  She talked about my Dad, Mike, as "her boyfriend" or "whoever he is" and she seems so happy with him and with life!  At one point she even talked about how she wants to take "Mike" down to St. George to their condo . . because "he's never been there", she says.  He's actually been there numerous times with HER!   

I was talking to my Dad the other day about my Mom and her game of tennis that she loves so much.  I guess she's down to playing only once a week now with some very patient and loving friends!  We are so curious as to how my Mom is playing right now.  She has not been able to keep the score for a few years, but we're really wondering how the rest of her game is.  I'm pretty sure they now have to tell her where to stand and where to hit the ball, and I don't think her hand/eye coordination or reflexes are where they used to be.  My Dad was going to talk to the gals she plays with, and ask them, but I'm not sure he's done it yet.  I'm sure he's afraid to find out the real truth, because what if she ends up not being able to play anymore?  A game that she has thoroughly loved and played for almost 40 years!  A tender mercy would be if she soon forgets she even plays tennis, but I'm not sure that's going to happen right now.  She's still pretty obsessed with the idea of always going to play tennis with her friends. That's pretty much the only activity she has left, so hopefully she'll have a little more time!  I so appreciate her friends for their patience and love to her!!    


Flashing back to 4.5 years ago . . . 

(The following was written in January, 2010, but all took place during the year of 2009 . . . I must have had an extra load of "stuff" going on in 2009 because I didn't write any journal entries that year . . . but I did keep a list of things that happened and things I wanted to remember, and then wrote about them at the beginning of 2010!  Here are a few of those random "things".)

Our Girl's Lunch at Cowboy Grub, 2009

• This past year my Mom’s uncle Ed passed away (her mother’s sister’s husband . . . got that? :)). Ed’s wife, Betty, my Mom’s aunt, lives just a mile or so from my parents.  Ed and Betty never had children, so basically Betty is left all alone.  All her siblings have passed away and of course her parents too.  So anyway, my Mom and her sister Deanne planned a luncheon this past year with many of the gals of the family . . . all those that could come, including Betty.  We went to eat at Cowboy Grub in Salt Lake.  I remember my Mom seemed so good that day, almost as if nothing was wrong with her mind.  She probably did struggle with finding someone’s name or the name of a place, or something, because she said to all of us, “Will you remember me when I remembered?”  She has said this same thing to me a few times throughout the last handful of years.  We all just kind of laughed at the time, but it has stuck with me!  I will do my best to keep the memories alive of "when she remembered".
•  I think I’ve mentioned this before, but my Mom is a heathen through and through!  She LOVES to have her scalp rubbed and her arm tickled.  We used to take turns tickling each other's head and arms all the time, but since we aren’t together all that much now, it doesn’t seem to happen as much as it should.  When we’re having family dinner together, I try to rub her head and scalp when I can.  She made the comment to me this past year as I was rubbing her head and she was in dreamland, “When I’m on my death bed, please rub my head like this . . . and keep my chin hairs plucked . . .” :)  I promised her I would do that!  I can not forget!
•  I’ve noticed lately that my Mom doesn’t answer the phone much anymore.  She WILL every once in a while, I believe when my Dad isn’t home, but for the most part she lets my Dad do most of the answering.  I guess that’s fairly typical of someone with Alzheimer’s as they sometimes have a difficult time tracking a conversation.  I haven’t noticed yet that she is difficult to talk to on the phone.  Other than repeating herself a little, she seems to do just fine.  When I call their house, I find myself 90% of the time talking to my Dad, and so I make the special effort, when I have time, to ask for her and talk to her.  I don't want her to ever think we wouldn't want to talk to her too!
• A few months ago, this past year sometime, I had my parents over for dinner.  I can’t remember the occasion, but I was making some big meal for some reason, and just told them to come out.  We usually have all our family gatherings at THEIR house, so this was quite unusual for them, to be invited to OUR house.  It was very fun to have them and I should really do it more often!  Anyway, I’ll never forget getting a phone call from my Mom later that night, thanking me for dinner and telling me what a great daughter I am!  That meant a lot to me!