Call Me A Worrier

Well, I had a bit of a scare earlier today but fortunately it turned out to be nothing, or nothing more than my own paranoia. My son and I went to visit my mother-in-law earlier today. We went up to her apartment and knocked on the door but there was no answer. So, we went back downstairs and checked by the computer, at the movie and the few other spots where she will hang out, but we did not see her.

Back upstairs we went and we checked by her friend that is not feeling well. She had been visiting earlier in the day but was not there at this point. I went back to her door and knocked but no answer. I tried opening the door but it is locked. Now I know my mother-in-law usually keeps the door unlocked during the day, when she is in her apartment, so I figured she had left, but I had no idea where.

I went back down to check at the desk and see if they knew where she was. They checked the same places I had checked and came up with the same results. I called my wife to see if she had any ideas. She got in touch with the desk and asked them to open the door to her apartment so we could make sure she was okay.

At this point I was a little nervous. I did not think she was there but I could not find her elsewhere. Well, they unlocked the door and she was not there. That was a good sign, but I still had run out of ideas.

The assisted living facility is connected with an independent living facility and some of her friends said she sometimes liked to sit out front of that building. I have never seen her do this (and I see her at least every Sunday with my son) but I figured I would check. As we were walking down there, who should come walking down the hall but my mother-in-law.

She went to the gym and while she was there, they had a movie on the VCR that she got involved with. I know the gym is in the same location as the pool and the swimming pool closes early on Sunday’s so I did not check there since I figured both facilities would be closed. I was wrong.

I felt silly for getting so many people involved, but certainly felt better that she was okay. My mother-in-law felt bad that she was not easily found when we were looking for her and apologized. I teased her that she should not need to apologize for taking advantage of the programs they have to offer.

Fortunately everyone was fine. I even said to her, “You look good,” and she responded, “I feel good”. I do not know if that was just a Pavlovian reaction or if she meant it, but it was the first time I heard her say something like that in months, so that was a good thing. Despite the craziness, it was a good day.