merry christmas

I picked Mum up from the Home this morning to bring her back here for her Christmas Lunch. Though I was, once again, unimpressed by the staff on duty, Mum seemed reasonably happy and secure (though maybe less aware of what was going on and a degree more frail than I'd seen her on Friday). I gave her a present and a whole stack of cards that had arrived for her, but she seemed oblivious to their significance. I packed a bag for her and we left to travel home. En route, I discovered that Mum couldn't tell me what day of the week it was (several guesses), or what day of the year. She didn't know that it was Christmas Day. She told me that she had already had her lunch (which she said had been some sandwiches). I asked her more about life at the Home. She was vague on any particulars but told me that she was alright.

My friends and I cooked a huge spread. They had brought their old folks with them, and the 3 old-timers seemed to get on well together. There was much laughter from the other room while we toiled away in the kitchen. I looked in at one point and they were watching "Shrek 2". Mum was canted over to one side on the couch at her usual 45 degree angle with her hands in the prayer position and the same open-mouthed incredulous look on her face that's there whatever is on TV these days. She visited the bathroom over and over, of course, and each time came wandering into the Kitchen instead of the Lounge, looking quite lost and as if she was seeing everything for the first time.

Over the course of the meal, Mum referred to the "Hotel" she'd been staying at, and the "Hospital" she was in. Tonight she started referring to things that had happened yesterday, but as if they happened here instead of at the Home.

I'm hoping for an unbroken night's sleep. That would be present enough, Mum.

ADDENDUM: 2 am now and I've been disturbed 4 times already. Each time I tell her we're going back to the Home tomorrow she sounds surprised but, thankfully, not unhappy. Since it's unlikely that I'll be sleeping, I'm counting the minutes.