My Other Funny Valentine

On Monday I dropped a few things off at my mom's place. Depends, q-tips and another color of nail polish. It's that last request, on behalf of her caregiver, that made a trip to Walgreens take 20 minutes rather than 5. 

The yucky comments. The disagreeable expression -- what color will she not make me feel shitty for buying? In the end she said thank you and liked them all. But experience has taught me fear. Here's what I chose:

Pinky-white, just in case that was something she'd like. Pink, in case she'd go for something "loud". And her current go-to -- something that would look appropriate on a white person's artificial limb. Check out what was already her fingernails. And look at the bottle of polish on the right. Do I know my mom, or what?

Thank you, Sally Hansen, for making that quick-dry polish. Mom has a habit of touching her fingernails while they're being painted, and with the quick dry formula our caregiver has half a chance. The next time I saw mom, on Valentine's Day, she was wearing the pink that I never thought she'd go for. 

Valentine's Day was a very special day. It was the final day of Operation Fix Mom's Bed! The visit was scheduled for between 10-2. I got a call the night before changing that to 8am. He called around 8:20 to let me know he'd be there soon. And I got there before he did. Yay!! Despite a few blips (ex: new remote had no batteries but we had a stash on hand) the bed controller and remote both work now. Our caregiver was remaking the bed as I left, and I could see that she was using my favorite bottom sheet, the one where mom had written HELP in black marker. I love that sheet.

On the way out of memory care I could see that Big David had left his baby on the table outside mom's room. I hope he and baby had a good Valentine's Day afterward. He's got a wife, but baby is now his main squeeze, and she's got his room number written on the bottom of her foot. Everybody was wearing red and pink and things were looking pretty festive in memory care.

So ends Valentine's Day.