My Mother's Retiring

I had a good belly laugh yesterday. I was talking to my sister and, as always happens, the subject turned to our 96-year-old mother. As you might know from earlier posts, my mother is suffering from Alzheimer's and there are many challenges associated with this but sometimes my sister and I get to laugh at some of the funny things Mom says. I like to document these things because when I feel like crying because of the ravages of this disease, it helps to think about the lighter side.
My mother goes to an Alzheimer's day care facility. She goes 2-3 times a week and she thinks she's going to work. We don't correct her.
One day several months ago, she said she didn't want to work at the Alzheimer's day care center anymore. I asked her why. She answered: "Because they don't pay me and I'm not going to work for free". It was all I could do to keep from laughing, but I managed to hold a straight face. I explained to her that it was a volunteer job and that they really needed her to be there and would miss her if she didn't come. That seemed to do the trick. That explanation was better than my first thought--which was to print phoney checks and give them to her every week. My sister said it would be just our luck that she'd try to cash them.
Anyhow, we'd heard nothing more about my mother not wanting to work for months. Then yesterday my sister said that my mother was wanting to quit again. I asked her why. She said, Mom said: "I'm tired of working. All of my children have retired. Why should I be working?" I just burst out laughing.
In this process that has precious little to laugh at, there is some blue sky.