He Got Six Hours of Freedom

 A week ago this past Friday I took my mom for the day. Most of you remember my mom is pretty young (51) to have dementia, and that my dad was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer (surgery scheduled for Dec. 7th). My dad has been run ragged taking care of her. Most people don't understand what is really wrong with her. She knows who everyone is. She's just lost her common sense. Completely lost it.  That may sound extreme, but it's the truth.

 But this isn't about that. I told my dad I was going to take her Friday for most of the day. He didn't think we'd make it. He was pretty sure she'd insist on going back to wherever he was, or that I'd get tired spending the whole day outside of the house with her (I've spent plenty of days inside the house with her, where I can rest if I need to).

 I picked her up at 10am, and I brought her back to her house at 4pm. In between we did a lot of window shopping,  I bought some Christmas cards with a coupon at Borders, went to a movie (the movie I just did a review about, Morning Glory), got some frozen yogurt, and did a lot of walking and talking. She seemed really energetic because after the movie she didn't want to go home. She wanted to stay out and do something with me So we did.

 My dad told me when I took her home (when my mom was out of the room), that he was so grateful for me doing that. He needed a break, and this was just what he needed. And I was so glad to do that for him. I'm over at their house all the time to watch her and stuff, but even when I'm over there and my dad is gone, she'll call him on the phone repeatedly. So keeping her out of the house AND from calling him was a treat.