Being a senior companion & wishing that I had a better memory

(Chapter 24 My Thoughts and Feelings in my book)

Today I was spending time with a ninety-two-year-old blind lady. She asked me to take her to the mall to get some slippers and winter pajamas. Because she is blind, I put my right hand over my belly and she puts her arm in mine and holds onto me. I walk slow and stay right next to her, stopping when she says that she needs to rest. After reaching the ladies department, I asked the clerk where to find pajamas and slippers. They didn’t have any pajamas in her size so we went to find the slippers. It was a long walk from the door that we had come in. I found a bench for her to sit on.

She told me her size, color, and the brand that she liked. I found a few of them and I described them to her and I let her feel them. I also told her how much they cost. She tried on a pair and she really liked them. I told her that they were on sale for buy one pair get the second one for half price. She asked me to find her another pair, which I did. She handed me her credit card and I paid for the slippers for her. As I was checking out, I made a note of what it said above the exit door, “East Entrance.” I had her sit on the bench. I told her that I didn’t want her to do all that walking so I would move my vehicle near the door that was closest to the shoe department. She agreed that was a good idea.

My goal was to find my vehicle and park just outside this entrance. Now was the complicated part for me. I have little to no sense of direction, so I can get lost fairly easy. It has been a long time since I have shopped in this store, so I was unsure of the exact direction to walk in to find the door where my vehicle was parked. I walked back by the jewelry department one way and it didn’t look familiar to me. Because I have short term memory problems, I wasn’t sure that I could rely on that, but I had to do my best to find my vehicle. I decided to walk back a little way, then turn a different way. I saw a couple of exit doors, but I didn’t recognize it as where we started. I began to wonder how I was going to be able to do this. If I had been alone, I wouldn’t have been so stressed but someone was depending on me.

I found another exit and it read “East Entrance”. I just had to laugh at what I had just done. I guess we had made a circle when we walked around the store. I guess I hadn’t realized that. I went out the door and saw my vehicle. I put the slippers on the back seat. Then I moved my vehicle in front of the correct entrance. My next step was to find her and lead her back to my vehicle. I was so glad when she was safely sitting on my passenger’s seat and we were on our way out of the parking lot. Mission accomplished!