Did you forget what you were doing? Why don't you eat about it?

So, living with a woman who is in at least the fifth stage of dementia can be...trying.

Now, before I start this post, let me be clear: I am NOT upset that I am in this situation. I am NOT bothered by it any more than what is tolerable, and I do NOT intend any offense to anyone in any way.

Okay, so, this just happened and it sparked a train of thought.

It's late, but I haven't eaten (nothing new), so I decide to make myself some fries in the oven so that I can have a sandwich and fries. The beau asks for me to make him some, too, and I happily oblige. So, after having worked all day serving others food, I preheat the oven, get the dishes out of their hiding spots, grab the fries from the deep-freezer in the garage, and cook the fries. Then, I fix our plates, and bring him his. (He is in the bedroom playing his newest game.) I left my plate in the kitchen, seeing as I still had to make my sandwich, I love mayonnaise, so it had to stay by the fridge. I think, "What's the harm? It'll only be a second." Yeah... A second too long.
I return to the kitchen to find my future mother-in-law with a handful of my fries in her mouth and the fridge standing wide open.
"Please tell me you aren't eating my fries?" I tensely tease. She nods her head proudly.
"Yep, had three of them."

Even though I had asked her not twenty minutes before if she was hungry. Even though before AND after I had asked her that, she had made herself something to eat. Despite all of that, she had to eat my fries.

Now, I know, this is funny. It's probably downright hilarious. But, it's not.

You see, I have issues with eating right. I've battled with anorexia as a coping mechanism for most of my life. It is difficult for me to actually take the time out and make myself eat. Especially when stress is the trigger for this coping mechanism. Now, imagine spending all of your money on food, only to have it all disappear within a day--maybe two. Now, imagine doing this four times over the course of two weeks before you realize that you cannot have any kind of food within sight of this woman.

So, you start buying the utter minimum, cheapest items, and cramming them into the little bit of space left in the closet and into the 2x2' mini-fridge in your room. You have no space for anything now, by the way, so welcome to a life of all of your clothes are shoved into three baskets.

Now, there is someone who, on rare occasion, comes and brings food for her. Luckily, this happened recently, so she has some of her own food, and you have spent some of your own money on food for her, as well as the fiance's money on food for her. This is money the two of you don't really have to spend, but what's a life together if it costs the quality of his mom's life?

So, back to the moment, you're hungry, haven't eaten since yesterday, make yourself some food--only after making sure that everyone else is good--, and you find this woman with her hands in your plate. Of your fries. Why? Because she heard you in the kitchen.

See, she heard you in the kitchen, and it made her wonder what you were doing. However, she's too anxious to go in there right away, thanks to her dementia, so she waits til she hears you leave. Then, she scuttles in real quick, but she forgets why she wanted to go in the kitchen in the first place.

Maybe she was thirsty? So, she goes to the fridge, and sees the fries. Fridge open, she's eating the fries, because she was hungry, wasn't she? Why is the fridge open? Oh, she's thirsty! She thinks.

20 minutes, 4 glasses of ice, and an even more thawed freezer later, and she finally goes back to bed. With an empty cup of ice and feeling like she forgot something.

This is a dose of my day. Just one of the many moments that are starting to eat away at my sanity.

Thanks for reading!