Aw, Typo, that's a rough day. I'm glad that the cloudy eye turned out to be a thing but not a big thing. I hope your mom learns to like her new lady of liesure lifestyle so she can get the rest she needs. Lots of ~ma for you both to heal.

May I ask, what is the acid injection for?

Sorry for the very rough day, Typo.

Thanks Burrell and Wind Sparrow. WS: Acid injection is forretinopathy - fluid in the eyes that is distorting the lens and tearing it up.

Typo, I'm so sorry. Is there anyone that can help both of you around the house, even for half a day, so you would get some rest?

she will do chores if not watched carefully.

Strange, how your mother is also my mother.

Buffistas, I could use some advice. Few months ago my 90 year old grandmother-replacement** (I never really had grandmothers, the woman in question is my great aunt via marriage - and she treated me much more nicely than all of my biological grandmothers and grandfathers combined) started having mental difficulties. It started with few weeks of euphoria, losing touch with the world around her (couldn't remember people and events), and for the past two months she's been mostly depressed. Her daughters say now it's OK to visit her, and we plan to do so tomorrow.

I've visited friends in some kinds of mental breakdowns and illnesses, and I've visited my elder relatives before they died. I just don't have any experience with what would be comforting/helping to an old lady whose mind is playing evil tricks on her. I fear that just visiting wouldn't be much help - she's aware of what's going on, she's an intellectual and a kickass Professor Emerita, and we all know it's heartbreaking and probably not gonna get any better.

So, any advice?

** I don't know how that sounds in English and I worried it sounds bad, but grandmother-replacement doesn't supposed to be an affront - it's just what it is. My own grandmothers weren't alive/exemplars of humanity, so she is my grandmother replacement.

A visit may be very comforting, Shir, for her daughters as well as for her.

Shir, just being there and letting her know how much you love her is the best thing you can do.

Typo, may the acid injection do what it's supposed to do with no more problems!

she will do chores if not watched carefully.

My sister is the same way. She'll wash dishes if I don't stop her, and I have a dishwasher!

Shir, in that situation, I've usually found it helpful to let that person take the lead. Whatever she feels like talking about, talk about it with her. And if she doesn't remember things, or remembers them wrong, just go with it -- don't try to tell her that something didn't happen the way she remembers it. And I think the English term would be surrogate grandmother.

Just had my third interview with Big Co in Seattle with the hiring manager. I think it went well? Kind of hard to say. I felt like it was awesome with the woman who would be my peer, but the job that was described today sounds a bit different from the one posted.

I'm still interested, but not sure I am a perfect fit like I thought I was. We'll see, I guess. Hrmph.

I have a teacher story!!

So, I have a small reading group that I work with every day. 3 boys, 1 girl. Two of the boys are African-American, the girl and the other boy are white. Last week, the boys picked the book, so this week, my girl picked the book. She thought she was picking a book about baseball based on the cover, but it ended up being about baseball and the desegregation of a rural school in 1959. So today, we were reviewing the book and at one point, we were talking about the racism in the book. E, my girl, said something about it being dumb and started to say, B is black and we..." when J, the white kid, says, "You can't say that! You can't someone's black!" So, seeing a teachable moment, we broke from the book review and I said, "She can say that. B is black, just like we're white. We can't discount someone's race or ethnicity; it's a large part of who we are and what experiences we have in life. B and O will have different experiences from us because we're white and they're black, just like B and you will have different experiences from E and me because you're boys and we're girls." At which point B says, "Yeah. Tell me about it. There are some weird things going on with my body right now."

I just kind of blinked at him a moment and said, "Yep. We all go through that. So. Where did we see racism in the book?"

High-larious.

LOL