Yesterday my 86-year-old mom (who's had moderate dementia for 7+ years) comes into my bedroom while I am sitting on the bed paying bills. She asks what I am doing, I tell her, and then she leaves and goes to her own room which is, at tops, 10 feet away from our room. Moments later my phone rings. It's my Mom. I half-shout down the hall in her direction, "MOM, YOU'RE CALLING ME BY MISTAKE!" She says, "Oh, sorry, never mind." I hang up. Ten seconds later, my phone chimes. I have a voicemail. "Hi honey, it's your mom. Just checking in. Give me a call." All that within about a one-minute timespan.
When my Dad needed to have caregivers, he wanted those who had a sense of humor. Then when Dad moved to senior living, he was a joy to take care of as he was so easy going, always smiling, and making people laugh.
Even though Dad has passed on, if something weird happens in the house, I will call out "Dad, stop messing with me" and I start to chuckle.
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My went to rehab after a stay in a Hospital in the State across the river from us. My daughter thought it would be a good idea to have Mom in her Rehab. Mom would walk the halls looking for my daughter. It came out that she thought she was living in a house with me and daughter. This was when we realized she could not stay in her home alone anymore.