March 18-21

Had a phone call on Monday morning from the care facility, they had a place ready for my mother. We got some last-minute organizing done in the afternoon, on Tuesday morning we made the trip. When we arrived the receptionist said "welcome to our grand hotel" so that will be my euphemistic name for it as well. The "hotel" is not terribly far from our neighborhood, it's about four miles away on the opposite side of the city. It's actually a very nice place, it doesn't have a "hospital" feel to it at all. My mother's "apartment" is hers alone, it has a front room with a kitchenette and a bedroom with a bathing area. The plan is for her to be there for about a month to get healthy and back to the point of being somewhat self-sufficient. There are some things that nothing can be done about (she's 84, has arthritis and can be forgetful) but there are other things that can be cured and that is why she is there. Once we got her apartment organized we noted some things we left at home that she can use there, on Wednesday and Thursday I took a lamp from the living room end table and some chairs from the dining room to help make it more like home. On Tuesday the director asked me if I wanted to stay for lunch, since she extended the invite I felt obliged to accept. They put my mother at a table with two other residents (John and Janet, unrelated) and by Thursday the director told me she seems to be acclimating well already. It's a very different thing for her because she's always been fiercely independent but recent events have shown that special attention was needed that simply could not happen at home. Take care, thanks for reading.