Happy 91st Birthday Florence!

Hi Steve,

Today my mother-in-law, Florence, is 91 years old!  This is a photo of her, when she was in her 20's...

And this was Florence, last year, at her 90th birthday party!

Anyway, Pete and I will be stopping in to visit her this evening, with some balloons, a card, and some cake.  I don't think she's up for going out to dinner, yet.  She still hasn't quite healed from the last fall she had a few weeks ago.  And her toes aren't quite healed up from the fall before THAT a month ago.

We visited her the other day and she apparently (in her mind) was teaching at a school full of kids who didn't want to learn anything.  She was scolding this old guy in the corner, "Of all the students in this school who NEED to pay attention and learn this subject, YOU are the one who needs it most."  Then she says, "I don't know how I ended up being a teacher. I certainly never WANTED to be a teacher."  I said, "Because you're good at it, and they need you."  She smiled and said, "Well, that's true, these kids need some disciplinarian teachers for sure."

So, we just go along with whatever past memory she is re-living, and let her re-live it.  That's about all you can do with Alzheimers.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.  The time before that, she was working in the hospital, (these are both real memories of her life, she was an O.R. nurse for 25 years and then worked in a school as the hygiene teacher and school nurse).  She likes to help out as though she were still a nurse, by pushing people in their wheelchairs, and helping them eat if they have trouble, etc., so she feels needed, and she feels like she's in her natural element again.  It's very comforting for her.

Anyway, I have to take off to the chiropractor, my mom needs an x-ray at the hospital for her back, and my dog has an appointment at the vet for a check-up.

Have a happy hump day Stephen, and know that you are loved so much by so many, it's almost freaky!

Love, Rebecca