From my previous writings, I’m sure most of you have figured out that I go off half cocked at times and do things that create my own problems. But I’m as innocent as a newborn bunny rabbit in this deal.

As many of you know, my wife’s mother, who turned 92 a month ago lives with us, as she has alzheimer’s. She is still very mobile, as any 92 year old can be. She is healthy, always has a great appetite and is generally very happy.

Her daughter, who is “Her Friend” is extremely attentive to her and is so compassionate. She can’t get out of the ol gals sight without a certain nervousness setting in, like she’s been abandoned. For many that have cared for elderly with this condition will recognize the pattern. There is a lot of repetition in everything that happens.

To give my wife a break occasionally if I’m going somewhere and won’t have to leave her alone in the car I’ll take my mother in law with me.

Another thing with her, she wants to be on the go with almost every waking hour. So it’s no problem asking her to separate from “Her Friend” if she can go somewhere.

Please understand as I go through the rest of this story if you find it humorous, please feel free to laugh. We find ourselves doing that often around here as we deal with everything.

So here goes. We head out from Bertram to Leander and then to Cedar Park. She and I get along very well, so we enjoy a wide range of conversations when we go places.

Some of you may know that her husband of many years just could no longer care for her. Then after a few months he passed away. After coming to live with us his name never came up, which is typical for her diagnosis. We felt that it was best to not confuse the issue with trying to explain his death to someone that had forgotten all about their years together.

Dan was a wonderful musician that many of you heard play throughout the years. He even had made several CD’s of his piano music.

Our trip was going to last a couple hours, so as we were driving along I played one of his albums that was strictly instrumental, the keyboard. We both enjoyed it immensely. We talked about all the familiar tunes, all of which she recalled as her favorites. “I haven’t heard that in a hundred years” and we’d laugh.

I decided to kick it up a notch and play some of the songs he had recorded with his vocals. As the first one started to play I watch her to see if they were causing any emotions that may have headed in a bad direction. I was prepared to crop it off and get the conversation about the beautiful sunshiny day we were experiencing until things normalized.

Everything went along swimmingly. We both sang along with those old familiar tunes. I never detected anything untoward happening. It really was an enjoyable couple of hours.

Then it happened. We were a couple of miles out of Bertram. She reached over to hold my hand and said “How Many Years Have We Been Married?”

As much as I wanted to explain we weren’t married and I’m actually married to “Her Friend” for the last 52 years, I just couldn’t find the right words. I don’t want to break her heart.

Thankfully we soon pulled in the garage, where “Her Friend” met us and I busied myself unloading the groceries we had picked up at HEB.

Throughout the afternoon she was on the search for her husband from one room to the other. Her imaginary husband had locked himself in his bedroom, just waiting for the storm to pass.

It took until the next morning for me to come out. By then all was back to normal. Now once again I’m that guy that lives here with them and gets her coffee and fixes her breakfast.

The sad thing is, I’ve never had the courage to explain to my wife what the hell happened on our trip to town the other day. I’ve wanted to but just haven’t found the right time and place to dive in. But if she reads this, it should all come into focus.

I’m considering deleting Dan from my iPhone music catalog, so I won’t be tempted to let that happen again. But you know, that would be sad, because she really did enjoy it.