Tomorrow starts a new chapter for my mother.    She is moving back to my childhood home after being in her assisted living apartment for six months.   Her decision stems from not wanting to be in the space that she shared with my “bonus” dad.  Too many memories, I suppose.  So, as we move her I giggle a little.   I have been joking that we are moving her from her “dorm” room after a less than successful semester at “old people university.”    Truth be told, my 82-year old mother doesn’t like old people.    She didn’t embrace the social environment siting that the ladies were in cliques.   She also didn’t want to make any new friends anyway since they were close to death.   Her words, not mine.

So,  can the old ladies be termed as “mean girls” or is my mother over sensitive?   I find it funny as I have met several of the ladies who all seem lovely.  It is possible that it might be her and not them.    She might be her own clique.

As I prepare for her homecoming, I stocked her refrigerator with her favorite foods and have a vase full of fresh flowers from her favorite florist to mark the occasion.   I am even going to introduce her to some younger women in hopes of sparking some new friendships.  After all, she doesn’t consider ladies in their seventies old.