A Friend Lost And Found

…Continued from previous post:

     The morning of the first day after my mother arrived at her new neighborhood at the Assisted Living unit of Sunrise of Gahanna,

...she made a friend, whom I’ll call Rose, which is not her name.
    My mother actually made several friends that first day, though Rose was to become her Bestie.

     As my mother said to Rose shortly after they met, “It seems that you and I have a lot in common.”  My mom and Rose appeared to enjoy passing the time together and they always sat next to each other at meals.
     And so it hurt my heart when, three weeks later on the day when my mom was transferred from Assisted Living to the Memory Care Unit whose residents were in various stages of Alzheimer’s or dementia, my mom sat down for her first meal at the dining room table, looked at the seat next to her and asked, “Where’s whats-her-name?” I knew by “what’s-her-name” my mom meant Rose.
     Fast-forward three weeks later to Christmas Day. While visiting my mother in her Memory Care neighborhood I caught sight of Rose leaving the neighborhood with her daughter. I went over to say “hi” to Rose and her daughter, who was taking her mother out for the afternoon. I learned that Rose, too, had just been transferred from Assisted Living to Memory Care. Neither Rose nor my mother appeared to recognize each other that day.
    Three days later I left with Tom  for a ten-day visit to Los Angeles.

     While we were gone my daughter Theresa took over visiting my mom.

     Theresa and I chatted every few days, during which she gave me updates on my mom’s spirits and well-being.
     During one of these updates a few days after I’d left, Theresa informed me that when she arrived at the Memory Care that day she found my mom and Rose sitting on the living room sofa watching TV and holding hands.
      The two friends had found each other again.