Mom’s Day Out

Mom Lala, Chase, and me

Three of us, Dave, our son Chase, and I, went to Windsor recently to visit Mom at Brookdale, a senior living facility. We planned to have lunch in the building’s dining room. Colleen Lala (Yes that’s her real name and she loves music) is 96. Amazing! However, she’s on hospice now, and I noticed this time how much her health had declined since our last visit only a month ago. Thankfully, Vickie, my husband’s sister visits her more often than we do because she lives nearby.

When we told Vickie about our planned visit, and possible walk out of the building, she had asked if we could stop somewhere and get Mom a new pair of sunglasses, because she had lost her pair.

Dave told her, “I know just the place.”

The Dollar Store, Mom’s favorite place to shop for bargains. When she stopped driving, Vickie, Dave, and I tried to avoid taking her there, because she could spend the good part of an afternoon making sure she scrutinized everything in the store, the worse part being when she offered us something we really didn’t want, but she was sure we could use. That’s how I ended up with too many shower caps and Dave bought beer glasses too big to fit in the dishwasher. He already had a collection of beer glasses. And guess what, Mom? They were free from a friend!

After we arrived at Brookdale and checked in, we lined up to hug Mom. She seemed confused at first about who Chase was because she hadn’t seen him since Christmas. Fortunately, when he said, “Hi Grandma,” she recognized him.

“He’s really matured!” Mom said.

“That’s my boy, ” Dave said.

“He’s 40 years old,” I added. Mom looked at me as if I was lying.

We caught up on news and then Dave carefully guided Mom to her wheelchair. Chase steered her to the dining room. On the lunch menu that day, roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots. Chase gobbled most of it down in about 5 minutes, while Dave and I tried to match our bites with Mom’s, who only sipped her soup and sampled the carrots. After about 10 minutes, Mom gave Chase the rest of her meal which consisted of basically all of it. After the meal we all wanted the brownies for dessert, but Dave who is limiting his sugars knew he shouldn’t eat his brownie and decided to save it for later. My brownie went immediately to Chase, as I knew he’d appreciate it, and Mom, who loves sweets, happily ate one slice of her brownie and then slid the rest across the table to her grandson.

Chase pushed Grandma’s brownie aside and said no thanks with a guilty look on his face. “It’s okay Chase,” I said, “You don’t have to finish everyone’s brownies. Just leave them on the table.”

After lunch we asked her where she wanted to go for a walk, onto the back patio near her room or the little park around the block from her building. She chose the park. Afterall, she was wearing a snazzy pink sweatsuit complete with a matching jacket, and beaded necklace. Mom might have made this one herself. She’s a crafty lady, and stylish too. Vickie always made sure Mom had three outfits to choose from when the aides came in to help dress her for the day.

Since it was cold that day, we swung by Mom’s room and grabbed her blanket, hat, and thank goodness I remembered her new sunglasses. She liked the new ones. What do you think?