Memories....

Last Sunday Jim & I took his Dad to see his sister-in-law, Aunt Helen at a retirement home in Wentzville.  It was the first time he had been there and he’s been checking out retirement homes in the area recently.  It was also the first time I’d met her because she’d been living in Florida for years.  She’s 84 years old and very chipper.  She was well-dressed & talked like no tomorrow.  Her apartment was very nice and the retirement home was a family-owned place and we met some of the family that were working while there.  They were very nice & knew all the residents by name.  It reminded me a lot of where Mom was at Brentmoor before it was bought out by the conglomerate.  We all went to lunch and afterwards we dropped Dad & Helen back off so they could have some time alone to talk while Jim & I went to Rural King to pick up some bird seed.  There was another lady at the home that Helen had met who knew Dad so he met up with her, too.  When we went to pick him up, he was in a hurry to get out of there.  Ends up, his girlfriend, Jo called while he was talking with Helen and he was supposed to go over to her house.  Jim & I hoped that at their age, there was no jealousy going on.  Anyway, I teased him on the way home that he’d have the pick of the crop if he moved into that home because we only saw women.  We dropped Dad off and I guess I didn’t realize how much the home reminded me of Mom until Jim asked if I was okay and the tears started.  It’s coming up on a year since we lost Mom.