Aging

Just a quick note this morning with no theme-suggestive images.

My mother was always an immaculate housekeeper. You know the phrase "you could eat off the floor"? Her house was always so clean you truly could eat off the floor.

Over the past couple of years while she was still living on her own, my sister-in-law and I started noticing changes. There was dust where dust would never have been allowed to live in the past. Foodstuffs were left in cupboards and refrigerators long after their proposed date-of-death. Clothes would be worn and rework multiple times—with stains in plain view—before being added to the laundry basket.

So we finally made the hard decision to help her move to assisted living.

When I arrived last night and walked into the bathroom, I thought I would die. The toilet was grotesquely dirty. The floor around the toilet made me want to wash my shoes after exiting. (and this is no lowrent facility!) There were tissues on the floor. There was a general feeling of I can't see it/I don't care about her apartment.

Mother will be 98 at the end of May. In many ways she's three or four again

And it hurts me to watch this deterioration.

Now let's be clear. I don't adore her. But I respect her for the life she gave me.

Life should not come to this!

(There's no need here for lectures about getting the cleanliness problem fixed, Friends. We're on it. I just needed to share. Thanks.)