What Happened to You?

So Auntie has always been a bit of a smart ass.  Well, actually she excelled in that department.  Alzheimer's hasn't affected her sense of humor at all.  The first evening I spent caring for her was an odd one for me.  She is living with my father in the house I was raised in.  Until now, I haven't often gone to visit my father there.  He comes to our house all of the time.  So walking back into the house is like walking back in time for me.  Add to that the fact he handed me a portfolio of my senior pictures when I walked in the door, and the fact I was carrying on a FB conversation with someone from the year I graduated, and it was a serious Twilight Zone evening for me.

So at one point in the evening, my Aunt got a hold of the portfolio.  She loves photos, and actually does pretty well recognizing people from when she was young...like in her 20's.  But she doesn't do so well with anyone born after about 1960...including me.  So she sat in the living room admiring the photos of me which are nearly 30 years old now, and then came into the room I was in and said, "You were really pretty, what happened?". 

Now, I am not sure how you feel about using hand signals to express your feelings, but depending upon whether small children are present I find it to be quite effective.  You should have seen the huge smile I got when I flipped that old lady the bird.  Ten years ago I never could have imagined myself being bold enough to do that to her.. But damn it...she deserved it, and apparently it was what she was looking for, because she loved it.

She proceeded to leave the room, and come back again about 5 minutes later...of course not realizing she had already zinged me on the photos.  This time I got, "How many wigs do you have?"  I laughed, she went away again.  And returned after another 5 minutes to ask if she was related to all of the girls in these photos. 

So that is my Aunt in a nutshell.  She is much sharper in the mornings than in the evenings, and loves a good joke.  But she is a little sketchy on who people are, sometimes knowing quite well, others not at all. I understand she will eventually lose who we are altogether, but she'll never lose who she is, and I'm certainly glad about that.