Kate was up this morning at 7:00 to go to the bathroom. She took a shower and then went back to bed. She was up in time for us to make a trip to Panera. As we got out of the car, she said, “Help me. Why do I do stupid things when I’m so (stumbles on the word) I said, “You’re smart.” She said, “Tell people that when I do something stupid.”
We walked in the front door, and she said, “What’s the name of this place?” I said, “Panera.” She repeated it as we were about to walk by a woman working on her laptop. Kate stopped at her table and asked, “Do you know the name of this place?” The woman nodded. Kate started to say the name but forgot it and turned to me. I told her again, and she told the woman. She said this in a childlike way but also very outgoing.
After I had gotten our drinks and her muffin, I took a seat across the table from her. She was unusually talkative. She said, “What’s your name?” I told her. Then she said, “What do people call me when I am with you?” A short time later she asked again and then said, “Am I your nephew?” When I told her I wasn’t, she said, “You’re not my ____?” I said, “Yes.” She frowned. She brought up our relationship several other times. At least two times she was happy about our being married. Other times she wasn’t.
While there, she asked my name almost as many times as she asks Frank Sinatra’s name at Andriana’s each Sunday.
At one point, she said, “I’m learning my colors.” Then she looked at her gloves and said, “Look. They’re black.” I pointed to the lid of her cup and asked, “What color is this?” She wasn’t sure. I told her it was blue. The lid has a small plastic part on the top of the lid that slides over the hole. I pointed to it and said, “If the lid is blue, what color is this?” She hesitated a moment. Then she said, “Light blue.” I told her she was right, and she was as excited as a child might be.
Throughout our conversation she made references to growing up as though. Once she mentioned her age. I said, “How old are you?” She thought a minute and said, “Thirty or forty. Forty. I’m more mature than thirty.”
We left after she finished her muffin. We walked by a table of women who were there for a meeting of their book club. We know one of them from church and spoke to them briefly. Kate was very talkative. She would have continued talking longer if I hadn’t encouraged her to move on.
As we got in the car, she said, “What would I say if I were introducing you to someone?” I said, “This is my husband Richard.” She didn’t want to accept that I was her husband. I said, “You could say, ‘This is my very good friend, Richard.’” She wanted to drop the word “very” and just say good friend.
On the way home, she talked about our marriage and mentioned my name at least twice. She also commented on my being nice to her. She said, “You’re nice to me. You take care of me.” “You have taught me a lot of things. You’ve taught me to be polite.” Again this was said the way a little child might have said it.
When we walked into the house, she asked my name. It’s a good example of how quickly her brain works and then doesn’t work. It had been no more than two or thee minutes since she had called me Richard.
