Sheets and Showers

            We are progressing backwards—or maybe I should say regressing.

            Saturday is sheet-changing day for Mom.  It wasn’t long ago that she would initiate and complete that task from start to finish.  Now it requires some assistance.

            This morning, she checked the day and date on our atomic clock in the kitchen and announced she needed to change her sheets.  She no longer recognizes which ones are hers in the linen closet, so I helped her choose.

            At that point I got in the shower.  I heard her say something and I called out that I would be done soon.  And I was.  She was back in the living room. Her bed was stripped down but not made.  The dirty sheets were bundled up on her desk chair, and the clean sheets were on the floor along with her dirty clothes.  I gathered up the clean ones and laid them out on her bed.  Oh, the joys of having laundry facilities in the house—I put a load of sheets and towels in the washing machine, thus eliminating further confusion between clean and dirty.

            Mom then made her bed with the clean sheets.  I am glad she is still able to do some of the chores she used to do.  It’s hard to say which part of making her bed she will lose next.  Yesterday she commented that she hardly recognized her bedroom.  But she can still make witty remarks even if she doesn’t always follow the line of conversation.

            Tonight I’ll nudge her to the shower, using the clean sheets as my bargaining chip.  I’ve taken to turning on the lights and the exhaust fan and the heater for her.  Though I may listen for the sound of the shower, I’m not yet ready to go in and assist.