Caught In a Time Warp

I realize that it's part of dealing with someone with Alzheimer's, but the last few days I've felt like we were stuck in a time warp.

Last Saturday, I picked Mom up to bring her "up north" to attend the kids' piano recital. On the way back to our house, she kept fretting that she hadn't brought (or had forgotten to fix) any food to contribute to the meal. She had it stuck in her head that we were heading to Aunt Frances' house for Thanksgiving. By the time we got back to her house that evening, she was asking if I was still going to come pick her up "tomorrow" for the piano recital.

This morning, we had already talked a couple of times when I got a call just as I was leaving for lunch. Mom was almost in a panic that her caregiver was over an hour late and hadn't phoned or anything. I gently reminded her that today is Tuesday and her caregiver came yesterday.

When I talked to her again just a few minutes ago, she wanted to make sure we had finished all of her shopping. "Shopping? For what, Mom?"

"Well, isn't this Thursday Christmas?"