TV, Mortgage & Mail
I got ahold of mom this evening early enough so we could chat. She started the conversation by telling me there was nothing to report (she does this a lot), and that she’d shuffled paper and done small chores today. She then repeated there was nothing to report. There are times when she seems cagey on the phone with me, like she thinks I’m checking up on her. This is born out of my ongoing discussions with her regarding her charity spending. Perhaps she was writing checks today!
10 minutes after our chat she called me back to let me know the Mama’s & Papa’s were on PBS for an hour in case I wanted to watch them. I thanked her for letting me know. She paused, and then asked if I was going to watch. I reminded her we don’t have TV. This is a first. From the time I gave up broadcast TV, at the end of 1998, my mother has been all over my ass to have cable. Like, for 18 years! The minute I reminded her we didn’t have TV, she gave me her usual pitch as to why we should. I told her I’d consider it. This seemed to please her.
Mom is very invested in writing the mortgage check for her mainland house. The bank, being automated and everything, kicks out her subsequent statement the minute it receives her payment. Within six months of my father’s death, mom was 2 months ahead on her house payment. The bill arrived, and she wrote the check. Once I discovered this, I started sending her the statement on the 23rd of every month, after, of course, normalizing her payment schedule. Toward the end of last month, the mortgage statement hadn’t arrived. I went ahead and paid the mortgage directly. Mom hasn’t missed this detail as of yet.
This evening mom told me she hasn’t received mail for five or six days, not even junk mail. Upon hearing her say this, I responded with astonishment and suggested she talk to her (teeny tiny) post office. She said she’d follow up on this tomorrow. I’ll call them as well. After we got off the phone, it dawned on me that mom may be forgetting that she’s actually getting mail six days a week.
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 
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