Mumsie story...

Every once in a while I miss the Mumsie I used to have.

The one who would pop into your home unannounced,

boss around everyone in the home, fuss my kids,

open the pot to see what I was cooking...

Yes, I did say I missed that Mom sometimes.

Why? Because she was also the Mom who

you could call to pick up the pieces of your

shattered day and she would fix it.

Whether it was watching the kids,

cooking supper, she was dependable.

However I would trade the old Mumsie

for the one I have right now at this time.

I have never seen my Mumsie happier, funnier,

easy to get along with.

Her dementia can be aggravating, like when she

hides her money from herself and can't tell you why

or where she hid it.

She is really good at hiding it and forgetting where

she put it. So Monday C is looking all over for her

black money wallet before Bingo.

It is nowhere to be found and C calls me for ideas.

Well I am just a little frustrated because it seems like

every day we are searching for the wallet.

It is not found so yesterday I head that way early

determined to find the wallet/money.

I tell myself "be patient"

she doesn't remember where it is.

Of course, by the morning she doesn't even remember it is lost.

We begin the hunt looking in her favorite spots

then I hear from her end of the room,

"Look where it is, in my shoe!"

She is laughing so hard she can hardly say it to me.

I am laughing in shock myself.

"Mom, in your shoe?"

"Don't ask me, Lilly, why it is in my shoe"

Well we are now both laughing so hard we can't talk.

Finally we calm down and call C

I tell C we found the wallet but I'll let Mumsie tell

her where she found it.

she gets on the phone and starts:

"C, I found my money in my......"

then she is laughing so hard she can't talk.

This, this is the mumsie I so love today.

I have never seen her so cracked up as this and

she really can't tell C the word Shoe.

By the time I get on the phone

C too is laughing up a storm.

Oh, what a way to begin the day.

Oh, I would not trade this Mumsie for anything in the world.

I fear the day she dies because not having

this happy, go-with-the-flow, woman in my life

will change me forever.

Dementia is not always a bad thing,

in Mumsie's case, it's made her better than ever.