I had a quiet post-Christmas visit at the assisted living facility. We only visited at one house, since the other house was still on a Covid lockdown. When we were signing in at the first house, a resident was at the front desk, and she actually remembered my name!
There weren’t as many residents as usual in the big room, and a lot of them were napping. Some of the regulars weren’t around, like the lady who usually asks me for high fives. A couple of the older men who I often see were there. There was also a younger man who was staring at the TV. It’s always strange for my human to see a resident who is younger than she is, but not everybody has age-related dementia. The younger man didn’t seem like he was interested in me until the end of our visit, and then he remarked about how much I enjoyed being petted.
Another resident I hadn’t seen before was a tall, frail lady. A staff member led her to a sofa where she sat down. She was happy to see me, if a little vague, but my human could tell she was kind of depressed about her condition, even if she couldn’t articulate it.
I did see a couple of regulars. The lady with the eyes going in different directions was there. She’s the one who didn’t pay attention for me for the longest time, and then started to enjoy my visits. She had a white bow in her hair that was actually a paper napkin, and she petted me for a long time. The lady who always cried when she saw me was there too. Except she is in a wheelchair now and she didn’t remember me. She still remembered how much she loved cats, though. And she didn’t cry this time.
It was a very nice visit, if rather sad.
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