Thursday, May 20th

Mom and I have been walking the last two days...it gets me exercise(something I desperately need and also dread) and gives her the chance to "travel"...plus we visit and tease each other along. Also Daddy gets a bit of a break from her. Two days this week she has tried to leave here and go "somewhere else"...usually if asked, she says she's walking back to Oklahoma and can take care of herself. One day I drove the car behind her to be sure she was safe and she walked to the busiest street in town...looked around for a bit and watched things go by and then turned around and walked home. By the time she got back, she was not frustrated anymore and had a great evening. We had a very nice day yesterday. Today we took our walk and had a great first part of the day and then around 2 pm something happened and she wanted to leave again. Each time I ask Daddy and try to figure out what has just happened but so far we can't pin it on anything. He does get very frustrated with her when she starts to cry which does not help her confusion. Today I was able to talk her out of walking away from our place by telling her I needed to be with Brett at a funeral visitation and COULD NOT follow her around in the car(she didn't think that was necessary anyway!)...she promised me she would not leave our place and would not cause anyone "trouble". After we left, Daddy said they had a fine evening. I have a dear friend who is walking this same path on the other side of the United States so we've formed a Long Distance support group. Unfortunately she does not give me hope of Mom coming back mentally...maybe she helps me confront what might be reality...but for tonight I am praying and asking God to send answers for something that will help. I appreciate your prayers joined with mine. Sleep calls.....