Near the end of Mother’s life, she developed Alzheimer’s. It was during the last year of her life that she moved to California to live with my sister.. Mother still had her car even though she could no longer drive, and she was very protective of her car. When Anet started driving the car, it had to be registered in California and thus needed to pass a smog test. The car did not pass and actually received a ‘severe polluter” rating. After having the problem corrected, it was necessary for Anet to take the car and the smog paperwork to San Luis Obispo where she would be able to talk to a referee about the 1,000.00 it cost for smog repairs.
To try and keep Mother aware of what she was going to be doing each day, Anet, created a daily “Gazette” and left it on the table where Mom could read it during breakfast. Mother loved her morning Gazette but would forget the information by the time they left the house. When Mother got into the car that day, she asked, “Where are we going?” Anet didn’t want to confuse her or cause her to worry about the car, so she softened the answer by saying, “We’re going to San Luis and talk to a referee.” Mother asked her, “Why?” Anet said,”Well, Mom, your muffler didn’t pass the test.” Mom retorted, “What do you mean? We don’t worry about mufflers in Texas. There’s nothing wrong with my muffler.”
Anet realized she was not going to get away with a short explanation and decided to go deeper into the subject and bring up the smog test. She said, “Actually, Mom, your car didn’t pass the smog test.” Mother asked, “Smog? What’s smog?” My sister explained the source of the word ‘smog’ and continued on to explain the sometime need for catalytic converters. A few moments into her explanation on converters, Mother asked, “Anet, why are you telling me this?” Anet said, “Because you ask me about Smog.”
Mother said, “Smog? What’s smog?” Anet could see a long series of smog explanations and said, “I’m not going to explain it again. It’s not that important.” As they exited into San Luis, Mother said, “Now, tell me one more time. What is smog?” Anet once more explained the source of the word and once again Mother asked, “Anet, why are you telling me this?” Anet gave up and changed the subject.