Mom the Mischief Maker

Last Friday, mom got into a little bit of trouble.

I got the phone call right after I had arrived at my husband’s work-I surprised him at the office for his birthday lunch date.

“Where are you at?” my dad asked. I knew right away what that meant.

“What trouble is mom getting into now?” I asked with a sigh.

Dad filled me in on the details of the past hour. Mom had a lady from church over “babysitting” her for the day. She called my dad after mom had revealed that she found some money and had planned to walk up to the store which, as we all know by now, means she is attempting to buy more medicine. Apparently mom ran out the front door, leaving her caregiver in the dust.

I apologized and told dad I was out (there’s no way I would make it in time even if I wanted to). I hung up the phone, wondering the same thing dad was: where the heck did mom come up with money?? Dad has gone to extra measures to make sure there is NOT money laying around for mom to get happy with. Yet somehow she found money and was off on her mission.

By the time the hubby and I arrived at our lunch location, I received another phone call from a private number. I answered the phone, knowing that somehow the call was related to mom. Yep. It was Mike from Stater Bros. [There are few cashiers at our local grocery store who are familiar with mom and our situation and have asked for my number to call me when mom wanders in alone. Mike is extra attentive, as his dad also suffers from FTD]. Mike let me know that mom had wandered in, alone, and was in the medication aisle. He asked what I wanted him to do and even went so far as to say he could refuse her the sale. But…that’s only if mom chose his check stand and I didn’t want her to create a big scene in front of everyone. I told him thank you for keeping tabs on her and that we’d confiscate the medicine when she got home.

I hung up and tried to focus on my hubby and enjoy our lunch together. Of course in the back of my mind I was worrying about what was going on with mom. A few minutes later, I got yet another call. This time it was my sister. Apparently, when I was unavailable, my dad called her to see if she could get the situation under control. Luckily, she works close by, was in-between clients and was able to go track mom down. When she arrived at the supermarket, she found mom’s caregiver-for-the-day standing outside the door (I guess she was afraid of confrontation with mom? Or she didn’t know how to handle the situation?) Christina (my sister) walked inside just as mom was approaching the check-out counter, medicine in hand. She walked up to mom, who I am sure gave her a glare as she said something like,

“Don’t you say anything to your dad about me buying this.”

Christina stood patiently by as mom proceeded to pay for her medicine. Mom handed the cashier her dollar bills and the cashier remarked,

“Wow, these are some old dollar bills. Where did you come across these?”

My sister glanced over to see an assortment of silver certificate $1 bills, $2 bills and some old coins.

Mystery solved. That’s where mom got the money from: she had found dad’s old coin/money collection.

“I’ll just take those and pay for it with my debit card,” Christina said, as she retrieved the old money back from the cashier. Mom was insistent that my sister return her money, but was soon quieted when she realized that Christina would pay for her medication. As soon as she got what she wanted, she was out the door. Christina tried to convince her to take a ride home, but mom was insistent on walking. So my sister followed behind her in her car and made sure she got home safely. She followed mom into her bedroom and quietly observed her as she hid her loot.

One more disaster averted…at some point our luck is going to run out! At this stage in the game, we are looking into full-time, professional care for mom. :(