Coming Home

I am glad to report that our travel home yesterday was uneventful, that is, we had no trouble at all. Anytime we are facing activities or appointments that have definite time demands like airline flights, I worry a little about making sure Kate is ready. It may seem strange, but we actually encounter fewer problems like that now than in the past. I find that Kate really works harder to get ready than she used to. That is part of a general pattern. It is as though she recognizes that she is not in control and feels the need to work harder. I don’t mean that she appears frantic about it. It is just that she seems more attentive to doing things “the way they should be done.” For example, until Alzheimer’s began to take its toll, she always made up the bed shortly after she got up. Over the years I have heard her say, “My mother taught me to always make up the bed.” She stopped that for quite a while. Within the last six months she has begun to partially make it up once in a while, not daily and not completely. She pulls the covers over the bed and throws the pillows in their approximate places. She also hangs her clothes up more regularly though she doesn’t hang them in what I consider to be the “proper places.” Although it saddens me somewhat to see that she has to work hard to do the right thing, I believe it is a good thing that she is taking more responsibility. She still wants to be independent. I want that to continue.

She was still sleeping soundly yesterday morning at 8:15 when I woke her up. Kevin came over for a short visit before we went to the airport. She didn’t want to get up, but she did without a complaint. Kevin dropped by at 9:15. She was ready, and I had everything packed. That gave us a brief time to be together before leaving at 10:00.

The rest of the trip went smoothly. We arrived in plenty of time. I had been a little worried that we might be rushed, but we had sufficient time to gas up the rental car, return it to Avis, check in, have lunch, and still be early enough to have some waiting time before boarding. This eliminated any potential stress that might have occurred otherwise.

We stopped by our favorite Mexican restaurant on the way home from the airport. Our server last night was a comparatively new one. It turns out that she is from Venezuela. I had a nice conversation with her entirely in Spanish. We told her that we had visited Venezuela many years ago. I think she liked that. We also bumped into an acquaintance from the Y. He was with his wife, children, and grandchildren. We had a nice conversation with them as well. For me it was just another reminder of the value of eating out.

Kate got into her night clothes pretty quickly and right into bed. She worked puzzles on her iPad for well over an hour before calling it quits for the evening. She and I both slept well although she coughed a good bit during the night. She seems better this morning, but we are both still struggling from the cold we got three to four weeks ago.

We got right back into our routine this morning. We made it to Panera about 9:30. Kate was ready to come home at 10:30. After a short break, she wanted to work in the yard despite the fact that it was 36 degrees. At least the sun is shining brightly. She has been out there almost an hour. I am about to call her in so that we can make our way to lunch.