Good Ol' Shirley Prussin

It's been about 8 months now since I've last seen Shirley. Three years ago I was cruisin' through Craigslist desperate to find a night-time job to help support my family when I found a very brief ad about a caregiver position in Pebble Beach. I was so excited because the person who wrote it said I could sleep when Shirley slept SWEET!! So I emailed. A few minutes after emailing I decided this was just too good of a deal so I had to call. It rang a few times and I was a bit surprised by the voice that entered my ear. It was that of an older woman and she was NOT happy to hear from me. I asked her if Annabel was available and she said "no" and hung up. Determined to get this job I called back. This time Annabel answered and explained everything to me and we set up a date to meet.

To be safe, because you never know what sort of crazies there are on Craigslist, I had Nichole join Pieter and I. At the time Pieter was super tiny, 3 months I believe. We drove through Pebble Beach and found the house and it seemed to be the only one left in it's original state. All the homes surrounding Shirley's were brand new and freakin' huge! Anyway, we got out of the car and met Annabel and Shirley at the door. Annabel had us cracking up the entire time and Shirley just kept her eyes on my little man the whole time. She seemed very coherent for someone with Dementia and the job sounded easy so I took it.

I started the following Monday and was able to sleep the whole night through. I thought it would be harder to leave Pieter, but it helped that I didn't have to be at work` until after I had put him to bed. I got home at 7:30am, just enough time for Chris to head off to work. This job was perfect.

Over the year I ended up getting super attached to Shirley. Having a 3 month old definitely prepared me for the patience I needed with her. I always told my mom, "if I have to hear this story again, I'm gonna...." usually it was rip my ears off, but I never, NEVER disrespected Shirley. There was one incident however, before I knew Shirley was not a fan of shopping, when we visited Safeway. I was told to use her checkbook to pay for her groceries so I did. After writing it all out I turned to have her sign it and she was very thrown aback by this. I watched her sign her name and I felt sad because her handwriting was so shaky. Once we got into the car she let me have it. She actually made me cry haha! She told me I was a thief and just wanted to steal her money. I felt hurt that she would even say those things about me even though I knew she didn't mean it. About an hour had passed and she had forgotten all about it but I was still sad (probably PMSing) and she came into the room I was in and said, "everything will be okay, sweetheart."

(I'm crying....)

Annabel said to me a few times, "I wish you could have met her before." I wish I could have. If you google her name you will find that she was very well known in the political community. She's gotten a number of awards and has supported numerous causes.

I went and saw her before I moved to Florida. She was in a home in Carmel Valley. She didn't remember my name anymore, so instead she greeted me with "hi, sweetheart." She remembered I had a child, but she still thought he was a tiny baby when in reality he was already 2. I went with her to her room, the room I helped set up when she transferred from her home to this place. I tried my hardest to make it look exactly like her room so she wouldn't freak out. Anyway, she showed me all the pictures and told me the same stories then excused herself to use the restroom. I sat on her bed and just stared at the pictures I had stared at for over a year. She came back out and we walked to common area where a few of her "friends" were sitting. She sat next to this woman and introduced her to me not realizing she was asleep. At this point I couldn't handle it anymore. I began tearing up, because just 2 months prior she knew my name and my son's name, and now she didn't.

I excused myself and told her I had to leave because Pieter was in the car (with Nick). She kissed my cheek and told me to come visit her again. I didn't tell her I was moving, I couldn't talk. I walked to the car and cried the whole way home. Part of the tears were because of her stupid disease and the other part was because I didn't know, and still don't know, if I will actually be able to see her again.

Here are a few pictures of her prior to her being diagnosed:

(Hillary Clinton and Shirley)