7.15.2010, nj

as i think i mentioned earlier, my mom seems stronger this trip than she did last year. she can move from her wheelchair to the couch on her own. while her memory's not "coming back," she can retain some recent memories if they're of interest to her. she remembered what day we were leaving all week, for example, and my niece who's working in a sushi restaurant for the summer says that she consistently remembers that fact. if you ask her questions about the distant past (her childhood in hawaii, the time she spent in new york before she was married), she can remember a lot.

at the end of our visit the other day, when we spent some time talking to her about her life in the city, my sweetie asked her what we could bring her back and ma said, "bring me back new york city!" so we brought her back a cheap plastic statue of liberty replica and a book of photos of scenes from the city. she seemed to like that. she's gotten in the habit of bundling up her things (like pictures of her grandkids or the books of photos of our house we sent her) in a scarf or an afghan, but if you take them out and talk to her about them, she can stay engaged for a fair amount of time. will see her once more before we leave tomorrow.