Brentwood Business

Last Thursday night I had a strong impression that we needed to visit Carmen on Saturday. We left Mom home and went. It turned out to be a very quiet day at the Reed Galbraith home. We were the only visitors except for the lovely women who were sitting with Carmen when we arrived. We all sat together in Carmen's room and visited. Carmen seemed thinner and less responsive but very much with us.

Reed and Dorothy both had a feeling that she would not last the day. But she did! Dorothy mentioned hearing Carmen say "no" several times in a loud and firm voice. Could she have been turning down an invitation to leave us? I wish I understood how it all works. We are left to watch and wonder.

Rayne came home from college this weekend to see Carmen. She spent several days with her and returns to school tonight (Monday). You can see our lovely girl here, in purple (my least favorite color!).

Layne and I took Mom and went back to Brentwood today. The house was bustling with family. Dorothy's sister, two brothers, their kids, her father, our Ben and his family were all there! As before, we spent lots of time in Carmen's room. She looked much thinner to me today and had a very hard time responding to conversations offered to her. She seemed to be living in a world of unrelated thoughts. She spoke in response to some conversation she was having in her head. Once again, she repeated, "no", and had other comments that, to us, made no sense. Is she delirious? I cannot say. But she is in a different way than she was when we saw her last.

Mom really wanted to see her so Layne and Ben helped her climb the stairs. In their arms, she made it up and back down again. She spoke to Carmen in her soft voice. I don't think Carmen heard her, but, hopefully she felt the love that Mom was trying to give her. This little home is often full of people, and it is always filled with love.