“Heather, come here. You always listened to me and obeyed my commands.  Good. Come here right now. You sit on my lap so they can’t wheel me away from you.”

(Another conversation with Mother): “I’m doing fine. I feel rather sharp. I’m taking care of myself.”

(Audrey was looking at the booklets of her writing and art work that I had compiled and set on her tray table): “That looks good!”

(Another conversation with Mother later in the day): “Do you want some candy?  I don’t want any. Do you?”

(Later in the day a conversation with Mother while we were sitting under a tree and feeling this beautiful breeze, I asked her, “What do you like best about Kent Regency?”):  “You.”

(I read some of her memoirs to her and she was listening very intently and seemed amused.  Previously, she had told me that she was amused by her responses.)

(Situation not recorded but now remembered [date not recorded]:  Mother and I were waiting in a Doctor’s office for the van to pick us up.  There was a mix up and we waited an hour or more. Mother began to cry.  The only way I could keep Mother from crying was to softly read aloud her biography that was in Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey and the poem,Summer, she wrote .  I  recited this continually and continuously until the office had realized their mistake and the van came for us. While we were getting on the van, a middle aged man came over to me and said “I just have to tell you, that is a wonderful thing you are doing for your mother…”.)

(An insight into ageism:  To change the above repetitions leading to monotony, I started to read the Constitution which always interested Mother.  My reciting the Constitution did not interest Mother and she started to cry, so I gladly went back to reciting her biography and poems she wrote.)

Audrey's thoughts, Conversations Sequel, Life at Kent Regency Nursing Home