Saturday, April 5, 2008

The ongoing saga of Lydia's shoes

I took my parents out today. Besides a perfectly lovely lunch at a recent find of mine, a local Chinese restaurant that is cheap as well as excellent, I took my dad to get some new shirts and my mom for a new watch that is easier to put on and take off than the one she has.
Predictably, she started up on me again about having no shoes that fit her, and claimed I am cruel and torture her, making her wear shoes that do not fit.
Of course, everyone knows by now that I have spent at least $200. this year alone on shoes for my mother. She has tried them on, walked up and down, and claimed they are fine. The next day or the one after that, they are unacceptable torture devices that do not fit, being either too small, too large, or ugly as an unwashed butt. I give up, and yet I find some sort of response once again to her demands.
I fished out two pairs of shoes from my bottomless pit of a closet. These are my shoes, both being pairs I either do not wear often or have not yet worn. I got both from the Internet. My mom wears the same size I do, at least I think so. I am beginning to doubt it. One pair seemed rather small, but she says don't take it back; she likes it. The other pair is very nice, though used (I got it from Ebay), but she is not sure whether it fits either. Since it costs me nothing to do this, I will let her have them on trial. If she is happy and wears them, good. If not, I haven't lost anything in the effort. I'll just take them back.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I read about your mother's shoes, I remember how my own mother's feet were so swollen with edema that they were purple. I have another friend whose mother has worn moccasins--same brand, same size--all of her life. But now, the elderly mother claims that her moccasins don't fit. She also claims that the caregivers where she lives try to take off her clothes. But that's another story.

Robbi N. said...

Yeah. I know what you mean; besides the shoes, my mom believes that people in uniforms (nurses) are waking her up in the middle of the night. And others are stealing her clothes, particularly shoes and underwear. Her dead relatives visit her in the middle of the night. I think they take tea together.

Rebel Girl said...

oMy grandmother thought that her former employer visited her in his private plane. She also believed that I had burned all the family photo albums.

Robbi N. said...

The stealing seems to be a constant theme with people who have suffered memory loss. Your thing about the photos is particularly sad, though.
My mom buries things so often that she is generally responsible for the loss of things herself.