Random Acts of Realty

My brother received a letter the other day. It was hand written--hand-printed, actually--block letters in red ink on a lined yellow notebook page. It read:

MY NAME IS (redacted to protect the identity of the idiot who sent it).

I WOULD LIKE TO

$ BUY $

YOUR HOUSE. PLEASE CALL ME

AT (###) ###-####.

                                                            SINCERELY,

                                                                                                    (redacted again for the same reason)

The house is not on the market. Nor is there any intention of putting the house on the market. The mortgage is not excessive and there is no danger of late payment or other default. We do not know the above redacted person.

It would seem the housing market in our area is once again on the upswing. How else to explain a random solicitation from someone who apparently has more cash on hand than professional skills.

The dollar signs were a nice touch, though.

Sisters: It's Genetic, Except For the Learned Parts

We received a call from one of my cousins yesterday evening. He was letting us know that his mom, Mom's kid sister, our aunt had received the birthday card we'd sent by way of him. We sent the card to his address because his mom, despite being almost three years younger than ours, is in much worse shape mentally and physically. She lives in a residential facility on the other side of the state, is not mobile on her own, and often does not recognize familiar people.

Considering that Alzheimer's is genetic and both sisters have it our main consolation is that it seems to be very late-onset in our family. I am pleased Mom is holding up as well as she is.

As a matter of fact, the reason we remembered to send the card on time was because, when we put up the 2012 calendar in the kitchen, Mom went straight to it, flipped to February and wrote in her sister's name on the appropriate date. It's right there in legible script, in pen.

Considering how bad I've always been at remembering birthdays (with no valid excuse), I find that pretty impressive.

Desperate Response Update

I may have been a bit premature regarding the beneficial effects of the sleeping pill I gave Mom two nights ago.

Today she disavowed all knowledge of, and any responsibility for, the letter she wrote. She didn't do it, she doesn't know who did and it's not her handwriting anyway.

And then she picked it up and added another couple of lines to the end.

At least she only got up once last night.

Desperate Response Pays Off

I finally gave Mom a sleeping pill last night. Actually they're more anti-anxiety pills than anything else. We've had the prescription for a couple of months now but I haven't wanted to use them because the doc said they would negatively affect her memory and cognitive abilities, which is the last thing she needs. I'd rather put up with some level of insomnia.

Last night, however, was out of control. Mom went to bed at 9:00, her usual time. She was up again at 10:30, then 11:30, then 12:15, 12:45, 1:30 and finally 2:00 A.M. So I broke down and offered her a sleeping pill which she accepted. I figured she wouldn't suffer any damage from just one.

I don't know when she got up this morning but it was early. When I woke up she was already out on the couch having just written a two-page letter to a friend of hers. I stole a look at it when she went to the bathroom.

Normally her "letters" are rambling, stream-of-consciousness, barely legible scrawls only one or two sentences long. This, however, was mostly coherent, with paragraphs and everything and, except for a couple of passages in the middle and one at the end, readable. She starts off with greetings to her friend, well-wishes and a brief explanation of how she, herself, is faring. She writes about our "acquiring" a cat, my brother's relationships, and Other Brother's holiday visit here with his kids (which was almost a month ago). There may be something in there about the orchids and roses.

We're considering making a "translation" as best we can since even her good handwriting requires study and some interpretation and her friend is almost as old as she is. Then we'll send both the original and the cleaned up copy.

I'm thinking the solid sleep she finally got last night may have helped her brain functions a bit. I'm still only going to give her the pills as sparingly as possible.