It was Sunday, January 1, 2006 and I was going to Sunday school and I got a call, that mama’s younger brother, Gene, had died. He was the one in the Memphis nursing home and he was 10 years younger than mama, her baby brother. I called Bill and we decided to go ahead and tell mama, because we were afraid someone might pop up and tell her, when we weren’t there. We figured though that we would have to hear about him for the rest of our lives. We all went to Hudson and took her out in back yard patio and very carefully told her that Gene had died. She cried and cried and said, “Oh, my little baby brother,” and that lasted maybe 3 minutes, and then all of a sudden she forgot it, as quickly as she knew , she forgot. She didn’t know what she was crying about and she quit and never said another word about it, and we all looked at each other and sure weren’t going to bring it up again. We waited for her to say something again, but she never did. She forgot that quickly, that her brother was dead. She never brought up his name again, till the day she died. Maybe that’s God’s blessing for Alzheimer’s people, so they won’t have to relive bad things over and over and it makes their suffering easier.

Irv and I got ready and left for Memphis to go to Gene’s funeral. We got a hotel and checked out where we would be going to the funeral on Tuesday, because finding our way around Memphis is hard. We spent the day Tuesday, going to the funeral meal, prepared by his church, the funeral home visitation, and the funeral. We had picked up Walter and took him with us. I had brought my camera and took pictures and had Louise ( Gene’s wife) some made too and took them to her house, later. Irv and I were beat, went back and went to bed. Wednesday we came back home. Bill was supposed to keep mama occupied, so she wouldn’t know we were gone, but that didn’t work. We were going to wait till Thursday to go see mama but Beverly called us and said mama had gotten worse every day that we didn’t come, and we needed to come down there. As soon as she saw me, she forgot I hadn’t been there in a couple of days and settled down. Strange, that she drove them all nuts and the minute I walk in, she forgets it. I stayed and fed her lunch and then left. On Friday, I got there and she had been looking upstairs and downstairs for me ( there‘s only one floor) and then she told Melissa that she knew her face looked like someone she was supposed to know, but she couldn’t remember her name.

The next Sunday, we got there and mama was sitting in the hall outside her door crying. She looked so pitiful. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was tired of being alone, of course Beverly had gone home. I told her I had gone to SS and church and ate lunch and came and I couldn’t do it any faster. I asked her if she had gone to church. She told me NO , she hadn’t done anything and the aid walked up and said”, Ms Perrin, you went to SS and church and I fed you lunch. SO she couldn’t have been by herself over 30 minutes. You can’t tell her anything, ‘cause she’s always right. I saw Beverly coming back in and I was so glad. Otis (a friend) had told us at church, that he was at Hudson the day before and mama asked him, why he was on the same train as she was. He said he guess they were going someplace. Then while we were there, she asked us how long it would take us to get home from Michael’s house on our trip and we were sitting in the dining room. She thought she was in the car on a trip.

By the middle of January, she was afraid of everything, getting lost, getting left, not finding her room or getting took care of. We came in and Beverly was shaking her head as mama started in on, that we weren’t ever coming back. Irv took mama out and I talked to Beverly and she said she hadn’t had any sleep because mama keeps her up all night. She says mama hollers she’s cold, and in a few minutes, she’s hot. She hollers she needs to go to the bathroom every few minutes all night. Beverly is getting tired of being kept awake every night. I told her I was sorry and I would try to get some help.

David came to visit and we went to Hudson and David sat down by mama and she kept looking at him and then said, I can’t remember your name. He said, I’m Irv’s brother, David and she said Oh well , it’s been a long time and he said about 2 months and she said, well that’s a long time. Beverly came back, just in time to save us from having to stay longer. The next day, mama and Beverly both had the runs and mama complained of a stomach ache. Beverly said they had it all night. They called for some meds to give mama. Then Irv got sick and I had to go down by myself. Bill hadn’t been in 2 weeks. I walked in and mama was in the dining area and she didn’t know me till I got right in her face. Then she had a big grin and said how long it had been. I told her it was yesterday and everyday. Linda, a friend with a mama in there, was sitting at a table with her mom. Mama kept asking who they were and I tried to tell her and finally Linda came and talked to mama. She told her that her mama lived there too. She still asks when she will go home too.