mum cannot seem to give him simple requests like "put the ham in the bin under the sink". She will instead say "I was thinking that I won't use this last bit of ham. It is a few days old. It needs to be thrown out. Could you go to the fridge, get the ham and put it in the bin. Don't put it in the bin if there is not a bin liner in it. If you need a liner, get one from the cupboard."
Oh wylie, ROTFLOL. This is my MIL to a T! She speaks in "stream of consciousness", and her specialty is never letting you answer the question she's trying to ask.
Example, enquiring about our travel plans (punctuation included for ease of reading, but she doesn't pause throughout any of this for you to be able to answer): "What time do you arrive? Guess it must be about 4, oh no, you don't have daylight savings, so does that mean it'll be about 3 or about 5, I can never remember which way that effects the time. Hang on, they've got bigger planes on for Christmas and they probably go faster so you might get in earlier. Do you have a hire car booked? I hope you made a booking because I heard they're terribly busy this Christmas. You would've used Europcar, I suppose, to get the Defence discount? Oh no, Europcar don't have the Defence contract anymore, who has it? Oh well it doesn't matter, you probably don't qualify for the discount anymore anyway, do you? Could you get the size of vehicle you wanted, oh well, doesn't matter, if they were booked out they probably would just give you a bigger one. I hope it's not too big to fit in the driveway with all the other cars we'll have here. You might be able to park at the neighbours, as their daughter's working on Christmas Day so they'll have one less car than usual. Actually, now that I think about it, his brother's visiting so he might have his car with him. [note: they live in a quiet neighbourhood with a zillion places to park anyway] I'll just pop over there now and find out if you can park your car there when you arrive, so you know whether to come to our house or go to theirs. But you may as well come to ours and have a drink and say hello first, you can always move your car over to their house afterwards...."
Oh gosh, I'm so looking forward to our first Christmas at home in 6 years.
My hubby didn't realise, having been accustomed to listening to it since birth, how exhausting it is. I feel like my brain is being invaded, and have to "rest" a lot when visiting there, just to soak up some quiet and free up some brainspace.
My FIL is going deaf - I think he's loving it, personally
- but heaven forbid if he ever gets Alzheimer's... MIL talks a lot but is a good egg; FIL has a foul temper. Existing foul temper + Alzheimer's = not good, I suspect.
He has to be fed, walked around, fully dressed shaved and teeth brushed. He wears pull ups for double incontinence and he falls regularly because he is still mobile. The carers and nurses are very good with him and he is regarded as easy to care for because he is "pleasantly demented". He doesn't recognise us, can't ask questions, ( can't really respond to our questions either) but seems happy enough watching the world around him.
He would be mortified to know that he is in this state.
I just wanted to pipe in at this joyful time, and spare a thought for your families, and all the families who are dealing with this, and the many other challenges that life can throw our way. I hope the fact that your FIL isn't aware of his condition, Tizzy, brings you some comfort.
God bless those people who are caring for a disabled or ill family member; carers in our society truly are the unsung heroes of this world. I pray that we in Australia, who can so readily afford it, develop more substantial support for these families. In particular, I'm aware that the aging parents of adult disabled children (eg 80yo parents of a 50yo totally dependent disabled son/daughter) not only spend their retirement years continuing to care for their dependent child - bless them for that - but in addition, worry
a lot about who will care for, and what will happen to, their son/daughter when they pass away, now that so many institutions have been closed.
This is one of the policy areas in which I feel that we can and should do a lot more.