Saturday, December 22, 2018

there is an expression...

... remembered from spending time with my mother-in-law when she lived nearby in the last years of her life. She grew up in Pennsylvania, and spent most of her adult life in Johnstown, relocating to FL in a retirement community when her husband retired. After he died, possibly about 1980 or '81, she lived alone in their apartment for a while. Health became an issue, she was unable to live independently (never ever drove a car!), causing her to relocate to middle Georgia closer to family members who could provide care as needed.

She lived for a while with her daughter, then for a while in an apartment in central GA. Eventually relocating to assisted living facility that is actually right across the street from where I am now employed, but I was not working while she was in residence. Her mental acuity was failing, and she continued to decline physically. I would take daughters and go to see her several times a week, assisting with what ever needed doing: shopping, doctor's appointments, etc. As she began to be more and more confused and less able to recall events, people, conversations, understandably there was more and more repetition.

The funny thing she said that I remember, and the family will occasionally still speak of/recall, was what she said when trying to relate a conversation she had on the phone, or someone would go to the retirement center to visit. The expression that was so common when we would see her and she wanted to let us know someone was expected to come by is "those people are coming." She could not tell you precisely who 'those people' were or when they were coming, only retaining enough information to recall that someone had been in touch to let her know they planned to stop by. Unknown people at a forgotten time, but a reason to look ahead.

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