Murphy’s been on my mom’s mind a bunch for some reason. It started right before her stroke on Tuesday morning when she kept saying she followed him, he led her to the wrong room, and she was never following him again. (She’d never left her room, and Murph had been with me until I went in to see my mom that morning.)
Or when she asked him why he took her down that gravel path.
Or how she didn’t know what was wrong with her (like when the paramedics arrived or later when the ER staff was assessing her), but it all started when she followed the dog down into the basement and she wasn’t ever going to do that again. (Which was something else she said when I first found her in her room on Tuesday morning.)
We don’t have a basement, and I’m not sure Murph understood it all, but he knew enough that he was being blamed for something. The poor guy kept giving me his, “But I’m innocent, Mom! You have to believe me!” eyes.
The past couple of days have seen more of the same. When she’s awake enough to talk, most of our conversations revolve around Murphy.
“Where’s the dog?” (A variation of this is “And Murphy is where?”)
“What do you suppose Murphy is doing?”
“Murphy was here yesterday. Why didn’t you bring him today?”
“There’s enough room for Murphy on my bed too. Where is he?”
“Is Coco with the dog?” (Variations of this include: “Is Coco at home with Murphy?” or “Is Coco walking Murphy?” or “Is Coco taking care of Murph while you’re here?”)
“Maybe Murphy can drive me home.”
“It’s too bad Murphy isn’t here.”
“How’s my dog Murphy?”
“Murphy is such a good dog. I wish he was here.”
“Who’s taking care of Murphy?”
Sometimes she repeats a couple of the sentences over and over. Other times she interchanges a bunch of them. Mostly it’s clear Murph’s had a huge impact on my mom during the short time she’s been with us. She loves that dog and is very much ready to get home and see him again.
And he’s very much ready to have his Grandma Dorothy come home and see him again!
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