If you have heard it once you’ve heard it a thousand times, that as people age they regress and revert to more childlike behavior. I find this to be a bit offensive because I do not think a change in cognition or incontinence constitutes a fair comparison to make of a senior and young children. We age, our bodies get tired and although they may mimic childlike behaviors, I do think it is a comparison that erodes dignity.

HOWEVER, there are a few behaviors that parallel and my Mother performs one of those with aplomb. She appears in a room like a ghost! Mom is constantly sneaking up on me when I least expect it. I will be standing at the kitchen counter making coffee, turn around and there she is, hair all wild about her head and her standing close behind me staring! It is past startling!

I know many parents have had that experience when they wake up to find a child standing at the foot of their bed or sneaking into their room in the middle of the night. Thankfully Mom will knock before she enters my bedroom, but throughout the rest of the house… I am fair game.

My savior is typically Timmy who sticks to Mom like Velcro. He usually enters the room first so then I know she is about to follow. His little nails tick along on the kitchen floor so I usually hear him before I see him. But if the little B word is lazy that day and stays in bed,  Mom can slink into the room before I am aware, I turn around and BAM my heart jumps into my throat!

I don’t know why old people and children are both so stealthy. Maybe it is because they are typically both light in weight or because they take small steps so you can’t hear their footfalls. All I know is that when it happened this morning, as I turned around from the coffee pot to find the apparition of Mom, her wild gray hair standing about her head, smiling at me, I was so startled I slopped the coffee all over the floor.

If I didn’t know better I would think she is trying to get rid of me…Hey, wait a minute!?