****************************************
Today Esther and Jane, a friend she worked with at the Phoenix post office, and I had lunch and nice visit together at the Claim Jumper in Scottsdale. Jane's mother, Marilyn, is in an adult care home just a few blocks from Joe's care home. We planned in November that the three of us would visit Jane's mother and then go visit Joe. But with all our "busyness" we just today got that accomplished. Jane's mother also has Parkinson's, so Jane and I had a bond as soon as we met. Her mother does not have any dementia and is easy and fun to talk with. We had a very lovely visit with her. She has a beautiful room and many of her personal things in her room. I hope to go visit her every so often. After we left Marilyn, we went to see Joe and he was very happy to see Esther. Jane had never met him and she liked him instantly and was very complimentary of Joe and the home he is in. Joe was in a very fine mood today and joked and laughed with Esther and said several really funny things and had Esther laughing all the time.
It was 4:00 when we left Joe, and then Esther and I went to Desert Ridge Mall, and then to Paradise Valley Mall. We both had some returns and a bit of shopping to do (the sales you know!) By the time we got to my house it was 6:00 or later and we ate some of the wonderful homemade tamales that Heidi made, and then for dessert had wedges of chocolate covered granny apple that Esther had bought. It was a great day and it was wonderful to have Esther in town for the holidays and spend the day with her. We always laugh and have so much fun. It was great having time with Jane too, and I was glad for that also!
