Something Old is New Again and Not Sinking In

"Did I take that? When?" My mother asked me that a lot lately. It made me sad inside, but what else could I do? I had to lie to her and tell her, "No."

"Nothing is the same anymore," she said and moaned. Then, I knew she had made more out of it than was worth mentioning. But that wasn't how things began at all.

In the beginning, nobody around could hold a candle to my mother. And that was in any category across multiple subject disciplines and physical feats. She was an academic and physical powerhouse whose tiny frame held secrets from many in the free world.

She remained unassuming since there were no reasons to make more out of what was happening than what was happening. As sure as the sun shone and rose in the east, people would know the real reason why she remained a contentious force to be reckoned with every day of her waking life.

Because around the time her second husband died and her latest flame came into the picture, she was not getting that kind of attention. She had to focus on her children and their well-being. She knew another man would complicate the matter severely. Even if he was well known to her, and they used to date, was there a chance they could get it right this time?

Yes, they used to be an item at one time, and she was sure he wanted to rekindle that romance now that they were in their fifties. The question was, did she want to entertain the notion of living with someone who may have issues with his plumbing and tendencies to want to drink all night long over any occasion that came along.

She was sure that she didn't want that to be her focus, and she knew he didn't think he had a problem when they were younger, so she was more than positive that he wouldn't see anything wrong with his habits now. Many years later.

The whole thing sounded bizarre and a little far-fetched to her, but she had gone through a series of unfortunate events, including her husband passing away so suddenly.

Then, for her former long-time boyfriend of years gone by now to have his wife pass away in such a short span to her spouse. It was as if fate was shining on them.

He called her almost a month after his wife had passed. She expected his call since the town was so small and news quickly spread. He had called her sister to get her number.

She had caller identification, and when he called, she read the number and thought it was one of the boys thanking her for her basket and card or perhaps even Glenn. When she answered the phone, her former beau, Glenn, was on the other end of the receiver.

He made no small talk. He cut to the chase. Within minutes, he knew he was invited to her place to eat. After she hung up the phone,. She turned the front light on and waited for his arrival. He arrived 25 minutes later with his kitbag and a small overnight bag.

"Staying, are you?" she asked with a smile.

"I was hoping you'd have me," he said, smiling and winking at her.

He approached her and reached out to hug her. They embraced for the longest time, feeling one another all over. Their hug was something they both needed and had missed for a long time.

They moved to the couch. They held hands and spoke of life. The big ticket items they had missed about one another's family lives. He knew little about her life, but she learned much about him. She claimed that residing in a small town and having a mouthy wife guaranteed those things.

He nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm learning that about my former wife; she certainly was mouthy, and the reviews with people were mixed at best. You told me that once, and I didn't believe you. But I see now that I should have believed you."

"It doesn't matter now. You are fine for it, as am I," she said.

They stayed awake longer than they would have liked for the first few weeks but fell so much deeper in love than they ever had before with each other, their former partners and now with each other. Their love affair was one for the books.

And that night was the night they took a bunch of selfies. They held each other dearly and took selfie after selfie together.

She maintained that Glenn was the love of her life, and he did the same. But when she couldn't remember a few 20 years later that she took those photos, I felt sick for her. But it wasn't because of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. It was because she had a brain bruise, and the doctors weren't sure when it was going to heal.

So the marvellous, familiar and fantastic mother of mine, who wasn't quite 80, had not bloomed, as they say, when it came time to recall who took the selfie that hung on the wall in the hall.

Everyone in his family knew me well, except for his kids, just like everyone in my family, except for my kids. We could not have planned it any better. But you see, we didn't because we couldn't have because we had no way of knowing all of what we now knew.

His two boys, one his biological son and the other adopted through marriage, were hardly going to mix with my adult children or my younger ones now. I think those ships had sailed. We decided to have an open house every holiday so everyone had a place to go, whether they needed one or not.

No one in his family was outside of his immediate family who wanted to become a permanent fixture at our table for a holiday meal, and if there was, we would know and have already had them over by now.