Looking at the Glass Half Full

When you are asked “Is your mother alive?” and “Where does she live?” by your mother, what do you say?  While silently grieving that she seemed not to know I am her daughter, I said, “Yes, nearby.”   

I am choosing to focus on Mom’s abilities to socialize and communicate.  She loves interacting with people and thoroughly enjoyed a recent visit from a neighbor.  When asked questions about each of her five children, she answered confidently.  Never mind that the answers were inaccurate or that the next day she did not remember the visit.  The time together was joyful for both women, and I was able to clear up misinformation while walking the neighbor to the door.

As the neurons tangle, “creativity” is surfacing in a variety of ways.  I am choosing to see the humor in Mom’s recital of “Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot” at a mealtime rather than the traditional grace.  Or in my home-economics-teacher mother’s decision to pour her glass of water over her spaghetti.  It’s better to laugh than cry.