Mother's Transition Into The Pioneer Home

So, Mother’s transition into the Pioneer Home has been a rough one. We expected that, so weren’t completely taken by surprise.

The first room they put her into was a shared room. We knew ahead of time that she would have a roommate, and tried to make sure that Mother understood what that meant. But I guess the reality of it was not what Mother thought it would be: she was not happy. We made it as homey and comfortable as possible for her, but in the end it just did not work. To tell you the truth, her roommate asked to have her removed! Mother has no boundaries, and was being a bit too “helpy”

So she is now in what used to be an office. It’s a bit smaller than the space she had before, it has no closet, and the bathroom is a public one directly across the hall from her. But, and most importantly, she loves it. We again have made it as homey and comfortable as possible (she has her pictures hung - just didn't get a picture of it) and she constantly fusses with things: rearranging and moving things around.

This is still a temporary spot: once the reconstruction work is complete, she will be moved in to an actual single room (with a closet & bathroom all of her own). She will have a bit more space then, and might decide that she wants more of her stuff with her.

The home has a very busy social calendar, with at least two or three events each day. Mother can attend or not, as she chooses. So far, she’s gone to the Gospel Singalong, the Ice Cream Social, and to the Coffee & Donuts thing. She says she enjoys herself, and is making friends. Honestly it’s kind of hard to know if that’s true or not as she does tend to live in her own alternate reality. But at least she is not roaming the halls anymore calling for us to come take her home.

Between the four of us kids, and all the grandchildren & friends of hers, we try to have at least one person check up on her each day. Her mail still comes to me (we opted to not have her mailing address changed, at least for the first few months), so I go over almost every day to hand deliver it to her.