At 8:20 this morning, Kate walked into the family room dressed for working in the yard and said sternly (as if in a huff), “”I’m going outside. If I’m not ready when you need to go (to church) then go ahead without me.” Thirty minutes before I wanted to leave, I went outside to let her know how much time she had. When she came inside, she picked up her clothes on our bed and said, “I put these here so you would know that I had picked out the clothes for church.” When it was time to leave, I went to her bathroom to check on her. She spoke rather harshly and told me to leave her alone. I heard her ask, “”Where’s my makeup?” In a few minutes she came out and indicated she was ready. Then she said that she didn’t have any make up on except for her powder.
For the third time in as many weeks, she attended my Sunday school class. I showed two videos. One was a segment from 60 Minutes that featured Mercy Ships. Then I showed one about the work of Samaritan’s Purse in Sudan where they are helping to provide clean water. After the class Kate mentioned two times how good the class was. She really liked it.
We went to the worship service in which one of our young associate pastors preached. This was his last Sunday before leaving for Louisiana where he is assuming the position of head pastor in a Presbyterian church there. He did a very nice job. Kate’s assessment of him was glowing. She said she thought he was the best preacher we have ever had. This positive reaction to people is not new and is what I sometimes describe as a childlike response. She just seems to be very impressed with other people’s skills.
Finally, we went to lunch at Chalupes. She raved about the food and the consistency from visit to visit.
I take both the huffy emotional behavior with me and the positive reaction to my lesson, Jonathan, and her lunch as a function of her Alzheimer’s. She wasn’t this way before.
