Some Things Never Change

I visited my mother in the nursing home today as I do on a regular basis. She's bed-ridden and sleeps a lot. Some days she's quite lucid and will carry on a conversation with me. Some days she lives in a world between dream and imagining.

Today she was drifting in and out of sleep. I collected her dirty socks and kissed her on the forehead. As I turned toward the door, she said, "Hold them shoulders up."

I laughed as I walked down the hall to the elevator. She's been telling me that since I was ten. I wondered if she was seeing me or the ten-year-old.