There is a lot more "power" in that term than the title that
we sometimes throw around would suggest. I felt very powerful, signing
away all my mother's personal rights in preparation for her admission to the
memory care unit next month.
She's going to be very upset and I am having nightmares
trying to figure out how to make it all go as smoothly as possible for her.
It reminds me of the weeks leading up to her move to Atria four years ago.
It was the longest conference I've had with Richard, the
General Manager of Atria. We have had our moments when I had to
confront him about this or that thing, but this was a congenial half hour we
spent together. I kinda sorta liked him, though when he talked about
hoping my mother's rent will be reduced once the tax rate goes from 30% to
15%, I figured that politics was not going to be a good topic for us to
discuss.
So now all the decisions have to be made, and behind my
mother's back. She was not happy when I mentioned the move to her (I
knew she would not be) and said she would "think about it" and "let me
know." By now she has forgotten. But I wanted it to be said.
* * *
We had two shows this weekend, Guys and Dolls on
Friday and a new comedy, Treatment, at a 5 p.m. matinee.
Guys and Dolls was the best of the shows I have seen
in the past three weeks.
The girl in pink is named Eimi Taormino. We first saw
her in the chorus of a show many years ago and have enjoyed watching her
move up into principal roles. This show, where she plays Adelaide,
girlfriend of Nathan Detroit, may have been her best ever. Walt
commented that when she was on stage, you could not look at anything else.
Sadly, she recently announced in Facebook that she is
relocating to the Bay Area, which is a big loss to area theaters here.
I wonder if I will ever see her in a Lamplighters production!
Treatment was more difficult. It's a comedy, but
not the knee-slapper that I anticipated. It was commissioned by a
Sacramento theater to be written by three of their comediennes, some of the
funniest ladies in Sacramento.
It was good, but with a bit more serious tone than I
expected. Writing this review is a bit trickier. I had problems
with the show because it is about 3 women, one of whom has lost her mother
and is struggling to "let go" and scatter her ashes. Another of the 3
has been in a lesbian relationship with a partner who has two children, whom
this woman loves madly. Only her partner broke up with her and not
only is she homeless, but she also has lost the boys that she loves so much
and she talks a lot about the pain a mother feels when she loses a child..
Uh....two themes that it me on an emotional level big time!
But my mother has helped me come to peace with signing all
those damn papers to admit her to the memory care unit. (For one thing
I am realizing that she had to go through this kind of thing when she had to
admit her own mother to the mental hospital in Napa. In those days
they didn't have "memory care units" and how hard it must have been for her
to see her mother in a mental institution.)
Then this afternoon, while I was talking to Jeri, I had a
call from Atria. My mother fainted in the lobby while walking to the
dining room. They didn't call the paramedics this time, but got her up
and say she's OK. I have not seen her faint in many weeks, though she
says she sometimes finds herself on the floor....you never know what is real
and what is her imagination and nobody else has seen her faint, but now I'm
thinking that she is probably remembering correctly.
One huge benefit of the memory care unit is that each
resident is checked every two hours and she will probably spend a lot more
time in the open areas with other people around her. At least that is
what I am comforting myself by imagining.
The other advantage of her fainting in public is that if she
is remembering and worrying about "finding herself on the floor" from time
to time, I can now reassure her that there will be people around to watch
her more closely and make sure she doesn't lie on the floor for awhile
before she is found.
I hope that will bring her some comfort.
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