I'm gonna break the postwhoring rule here and just tell the story:
I got home about 5:30, ready for a nice, relaxing evening, maybe do a little postwhoring, then get to bed early.
Then my sister called me. Mom was missing.
My mother is 88 years old. She still drives, despite our constant pleas for her to decide to stop on her own. Until recently, it was just a matter of her eyesight and reaction time--but over the past several months, her memory has become a major concern. We'd hoped it was some kind of medication problem, but it seems that she's developing dementia.
She also doesn't see that great, and although she does still drive herself around, generally she will only drive in an area she's familiar with, and only if the weather is decent and it's daylight.
She has admitted to me that she has been out before and forgotten where she was, and why she'd gone out. But she won't give up the car keys.
But when my sister got home today, Mom wasn't there, nor was her van. And nobody else's car was there, so nobody had come to pick her up and take her somewhere. It was raining, had been pretty much all day.
My sister waited a while, then after about an hour called me. It was very nearly dusk by this time, and she was understandably worried.
We made a plan. Check with all the relatives, just in case. I wondered if maybe she had run out to the grocery store thinking the rain had stopped--but a lot of time had passed for that. If we didn't find her before dark, we'd call law enforcement and see what they suggested.
About 30 minutes later, she pulls in the driveway. She had, in fact, gone to the grocery store. She just decided she could drive in the rain because "it wasn't very far." And then I guess, decided to just spent 90 minutes roaming the store??
Oh, and of course, she'd left her cell phone at home--not that it mattered, because she never, EVER answers it when we try to call her.
I'm thankful she's home, safe and sound. But tomorrow, I'm gonna go over there and wring her neck.
It is time to give up the car keys whether she wants to or not, methinks. And THAT will not be fun for ANYone.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/39/39544-f587cf14279888b81e3b51750534ae22.jpg?1734173699)
