Seriously, wtf? Mom went to bed around 10:15 and at 12:15 she was awake. I pointed out that if she just stayed in bed she might just fall asleep again. I showed her how to get to the kindle app I installed on her iPad. Just read! In bed! And please let me go back to sleep. At 4:15 she wanted to get out of bed. She didn’t want an easy cup of coffee (ie-Keurig!). She wanted a decaf,  Melitta drip POT of coffee. Alrighty then. Guess I’m up too. This woman is gonna kill me.

With the lack of sleep that occurs when I spend the night with mom, I seriously can’t listen to her stories over and over without wanting to run screaming. So, I practice active avoidance (and I smoke too much). When she starts to tell someone something I’ve heard over and over and over again, whether on the phone or in person, I just sort of drift out of the room and go do something, anything, else. Honestly, when all this started, I seriously questioned my ability to spend this much time with my mom and if I could do all that would be required of me. A friend of mine, who was in this situation with her parents, told me it’s natural to question this, but that I would surprise myself and it would all work out. She was right. You just do it. And you try to to find the fun and the humor, wherever the hell you can, because otherwise, it’s just too overwhelming and sad.

After a late lunch, Bob relieved me at 3:30 and Mary and Rosemarie came at 5 with pizza, followed by Connie at 8. A big fat THANK YOU to all four of you! I came home, and fell sound asleep for over two hours. I woke up and started to feel like myself again. I have a new person I am interviewing on Tuesday for some respite time during a couple of days a week. She is German. This could be the answer to my prayers (if I actually prayed)! She was found by some of the neighbor ladies. I have to admit I like the privacy we have on our 2 acres in the foothills, but damn, the sense of community in the Sam Hughes Neighborhood is freaking impressive! Yeah…..we don’t have that in our area.

Mom’s cat, Brandy, went out around 6 this morning. She never came back to eat her (disgusting) canned food and I could not find her before I left. Am I worried? Yes, I am. On the one hand, both of the cats are total pains, but I really like this little bitch. I say bitch with total affection. She will actively avoid you when you look for her (and I like to think she is kitty-laughing at us when we do). Mom says it’s happened before and she has just locked her out overnight, but I’m not so sure……