Part of the coping skills of a caregiver is to maintain a sense of humor. Seriously, it’s pretty hard to find humor in drool and pureed foods. Thank heavens the journey is slow...it gives a bit of time to adjust.

The other day we stopped by to see Jerry. As we walked into the memory care unit, the CNA’s said, “Hey! Jerry’s not here. He’s gone to lunch.” I was thrilled to know that he was included in the day’s outing. The activity directors had taken the entire memory care unit to Arby’s for lunch. I trucked on over to that little fast food place and parked my car. I could see the bus parked out front. As soon as I walked in, Jerry caught a glimpse of me. He began to move toward me. I happily greeted everyone and squeezed in next to him before he disrupted the entire group.

Here’s the funny part. Now, here I am sitting amongst 10-12 memory impared folks. Very few of them could speak. Fewer than that could even feed themselves. Yet, here we were in a fast food joint chowing down on an Arby’s roast beef sandwich. The employees were more than accommodating. So, as Melanie, the activity director, and I were chatting amongst the “silenced”, Melanie stopped in mid-sentence forgetting what she was going to say. She kept trying to recall......when, suddenly, Betty (one of the Alzheimer resident’s) said, “THINK!”

It was such a comic relief! See....they do hear what we say. Never forget that!