Last Friday was my 60th birthday. My brother called me and sang me the happy birthday song. I was so touched. When I came on Saturday to visit with him, it turned out he even had a present for me (body lotion and a luggage tag) and a card, that he had bought at the nursing home store. I didn't even know they had a store, so I wasn't expecting anything at all. It was so sweet, tears came to my eyes. He is my living member of my original nuclear family, I have no other blood family except for my kids. He is a pain to take care of but I still love him dearly.
On another note, I found out on Saturday he has another girlfriend! Her name is Lee and she is 93 years old and in a wheel chair. The receptionist told me all about it. When I remarked that I was worried that another girlfriend was going to die on him, she told me not to worry, that the only reason she was in the nursing home is that she was suffering from certain kinds of memory loss. For instance, she can't remember my brother's name, but she does remember to sit next to him for meals. Apparently they hold hands. She has asked him to marry her, but he has demurred and told her that the memory of his former nursing home girlfriend is to fresh to him right now. He told me she is "just a friend". I hope Lee is not as nutty as Veronica, who had some violent tendencies.
I mean to introduce myself to Veronica the next time I go to visit him. I think I have already spoken to her, I just didn't know she was a girlfriend.
My brother seems so much happier in the nursing home than he was before he landed there. To think that I spent so much time and energy to keep him out of a home. But if he is happy, as happy as someone can be with his disabilities and autism, then I am happy.
By the way, his birthday card welcomed me into the "golden age" club. His sense of humor always amuses me.
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