All day I had this feeling that I was taking my daughter to college to meet her new roommate. This feeling was exacerbated when I went shopping for a twin quilt for her bed, drawer storage units, made arrangements to get her pictures hung in her room and checked prices for wireless headphones for watching TV (mom’s a little deaf and I don’t want her loud TV to disturb her neighbors…)

Mom’s roommate seems to be a lovely woman, rather quiet but very active and with a very sweet smile. I think she may have had a stroke, but I could be wrong. When I went to pick mom up at the hospital she’d had a bad night – a nurse on duty was rude to her (so mom says) and it really got under her skin. These things seem to bother mom now than they ever did before – the same way they bother my daughter, Hannah. As a matter of fact, I see so many similarities between mom and Hannah right now that it’s astonishing.

When we finally arrived at the nursing home the kindness of the staff – and the fact that they laughed at mom’s jokes and her vaudville shenanigans – made her incredibly happy. If she has a willing audience, mom is pretty happy. She’s very outgoing, very social, and she seemed miles better than she’d seemed in weeks. I think seeing the place, seeing how active the residents are and how lovely her room is really took a lot of the fear out of her mind. I also realize that, as much as mom loves Karen and as close as they’ve become, it’s me that she really trusts in this sense and if I say the nursing home will be okay, she’s more willing to go along with it. I will try to use this power for good…

Speaking of power, we signed over medical power of attorney, a dnr order and a living will today. That, plus all of the signing when I went through the admissions process made me feel that I was getting married AND buying a home on the same day. Tomorrow my day will be spent chasing down Medicaid, filling out more forms and gathering mom’s scant financial documents.

Two things struck me at the end of the day – 1) Mom said the soup she had was ‘delicious’ and I haven’t heard her compliment food in the week I’ve been here… 2) Mom’s roommate’s last name is James, therefore the sign outside of her room reads “James Modesitt” which was both my late father and my late brother’s name. Very odd, but I think a very good sign.

Knitting wise I’m not getting as much done as I would like. I’m working on that tablecloth, which is really lovely, and swatching some spirit trail stuff. To be honest, I need to have stuff that I can drop in an instant, because just sitting with mom I need to get up to take care of her needs on such a continual basis.