May13th...

8:30 wake up call...."Teresa this is Carla, Ruth is confused about her paper delivery,can you help?...I can hear Ruth in the background...I chuckle..."Good morning Carla, Mike is the one who ordered that for her so I will have to call him. Tell Ruth I will let her know what he finds out when I see her today." Carla repeats what I say to Ruth and says she will see me later.
I arrive at 1 and ask Carla how things are. She tells me Ruth has been up several times to ask about the paper but that she seems fine. I turn around to see Ruth coming down the hall ..she sees me and says she will talk to me in a minute as she has to ask Carla about the paper. I know not to interrupt. Carla tells her that I just told her what Mike had said...Ruth then acknowledges me and asks what I found out. I explain it to her and she is satisfied(for now).
She says ,"let's go upstairs ." I follow...after a few steps she stops and looks at me and asks,"were you the jerk that sent the grilled cheese sandwich to my room last night?"... I say,''why yes, I will fess up to that.Did you like it or not?"....She flippantly says , "I don't know. I threw that thing right in the garbage. I didn't take a bite of it." I thought," well I guess that answers my question and this is going to be a rough day.."
On the way to her room she seems pleasant enough. She speaks to any one we pass. She then says," I have been thinking that I will just get a moving company to move my things." ...Ugh, here we go again...I say," Well Ms Ruth, where are you going to move to?" ...She says,"To my home." I got nothing to loose at this point so I say," And where is your home? She looks at me and says" I guess I don't have one do I?" I just smile at her...
The day went pretty well after that. She seems coherant. She asks about Mike and his job and she stays in the conversation for a long while. She wants to talk about Laura Bush and her comments on Larry King. She asks about the quilt I am trying to make. She looks out the window several times. She wants to go for a walk. We go for a walk.
We run into Michelle who asks her if she liked Dr Khan.Ruth cheerily says she did. I know I am in the Twilight Zone. She and Michelle chat for a bit. Ruth always enjoys talking with Michelle. We sit at the front for about 10 minutes and Ruth is ready to go back to the room. She laughs and says I will follow her anywhere.
Ruth smokes 3 cigarettes and drinks a beer. I see that she has eaten 9 of the 10 yogurts we got yesterday afternoon. She seems a little antsy and wants to go for a walk again. We go back up front. She looks out for my van and says she needs to go and she appreciates my visit. This seems a little odd to me but I hug her and say I will see her tomorrow. She says she will look forward to that. She heads back down the hall. I go out the front door and then go back in to the front desk and tell Pat that Ruth sent me on my way but I bet she will be back and wonder where I am...if she does come back just tell her I will see her tomorrow...I head home at 4...
I take a shower and throw my smoky clothes in the washer and sit down to go over the day with Mike...the phone rings..it is Ruth...."Teresa, this is Ruth Whelan, how are you?"... I answer, I am fine Ruth, how about you?"..."When are you coming back?" she asks...."Remember, I will see you tomorrow"...."Oh no, not tomorrow, please come back tonight." she pleads. I can tell she is going to be agitated if I don't go back so I sigh and say," I will be back at 6...I heat dinner up real quick and Mike and I eat. I dry my hair, put on makeup, get dressed and head back.
Ruth opens the door and says," I am so glad to see you, I couldn't bear being alone all day." Even though I left about 2 hours earlier I just say," I know."
Ruth asks about Mike,dinner, the drive,etc. She then launches back into the idea of movers. I decide to zero in n this situation. I explain about Cindy moving up here to be near Linda and Cokie and Tracey and Wally. I tell her that Cindy #2 has moved away from the apartment in Arlington( that is Cindy #1 's side personality).I tell her she will be all alone in Arlington. She says that if Cindy #1 is moving up here then she will stay up here. I am very direct with her by saying that if that is her decision then she needs to stop wasting brain cells on go back over any ways to go back to Arlington any more. She says she agrees. We play this song and dance until she is saying to me that she thought that I was trying to talk her out of staying here at Corinthians and that she thinks this is fits the criteria of the place I am saying she needs and that she thinks this place could be homey.... YES!!! I say I think she is right by golly...She seems pleased to have figured this out...
She asks if Mike has a younger brother....oh me oh my... I say that Court is his younger brother. She seems confused for a second and then I can tell by the look on her face that she gets it. She says that Court was a super young man. I say yes he was. She asks if I knew him. I tell her a couple of stories about Court. She says she is glad I knew him.
She asks what Mike is doing tonight. I tell her he is vaccuming the floor for me. She can't believe a man would do that .I say Mike is that type of guy. She says Cokie used to do that for Linda and adds that he sure is a great guy ,too. I say that he sure is. She says," I sure would like to meet your husband one day." I want to scream but I just explain who Mike is .She says it is so confusing for her. I try to explain why she is confused(like I really know why).She says she wants to ask me a delicate quetion... I say," Of course." ..." When my son Michael was 19 , he made me very angry when he brought home this girl and said he was going to marry her. I was very angry. Are you that girl?" ...I say," Why yes I am." She puts her hands on her head and says," that just doesn't make any sense,I was so angry with you and now I love you so much....how can that be, it just doesn't make sense." I tell her that we have both matured...she laughs
We talk a bit about her medical concerns and what we need to do. I promise her I will never allow them to do tests just for the sake of doing tests. She says she knows I will look out for her.
Ruth says she hasn't seen Cindy since she has been there. I tell her she was up on Sunday. She says that she saw Claire on Sunday but not Cindy. I explain about her confusing Cindy for Claire. She says she really has been doing that. I tell her I know....
After a couple of hours, Ruth is concerned about it getting dark so I tell her I am going to leave. She asks when I will be back. I say I will be back tomorrow. She wants to know what time. I say ," How about I order you a club sandwich for lunch and I come over then. She says that I am just too good to her.
She says she wants a list of the things I have paid for. I tell her when it is million dollars I will collect. She laughs and says I am just too much. I tell her I know and I will see her tomorrow for lunch..

Ruth had a pretty good day. There were endless conversations about so many things. She seemed more clear most of the time.