Sometimes You Just Have to Find the Fun
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (113640)
United States
June 26, 2026 8:12am CST
It's hard to describe anything related to dementia as "fun," but some days you do have to struggle to find the lighter side of it just to get through it. It's never easy. It's very sad to watch someone you love and have known all your life become a different person.
My mom is at the stage where she's seeing people that aren't there, and now it seems she thinks these people are stealing her things.
The other day when I was out with mom doing our normal twice a week routine, just to get her out of the house and add a little fun to her life, she told me she figured out who was stealing her cookies. Apparently, it is a heavy-set woman.
So, I sent a voice text to our group, which consists of my wife and sister and brother-in-law (mom lives with my sister and brother-in-law), and told them, "This is not a social text. Please get your house under control. There is a heavy-set woman eating mom's cookies."
On Thursday, when I was over preparing some meals for mom to eat, I decided to have some fun with AI, and took a picture of the great room across from the kitchen and told it to put a heavy-set woman in it, eating cookies.
I added the caption, "WTF, people?" It got a good laugh.
15 people like this
11 responses
@GardenGerty (170568)
• United States
27 Jun
I am glad she is surrounded by family. You have a wicked, but fun sense of humor.
3 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (92135)
• United States
26 Jun
My mom went through the same thing seeing people in her room or under her bed and hearing voices.
It's good to be able to lighten things up since this is such a difficult time.
2 people like this
@BelleStarr (61643)
• United States
26 Jun
lol yes you have to lighten things up when you are constantly caring for someone with dementia. It can get very heavy otherwise. When Al's Parkinson's dementia got bad he could get aggressive which he never was before. He was trying to punch me, I said "speedbag"" to him and his hands automatically went into the move we had done some many time in our Parkinson's exercise classes. I still smile when I think of it.
1 person likes this
@akalinus (44382)
• United States
27 Jun
That's so funny. It reminds of a next door neighbor lady once. She said people were stealing her river rocks. She said that there were guys on her roof spying on my place. The best one were the two women living in my car at night. I even set my alarm one night to go check. She said there was a heavy set one and one with glasses. They somehow had the same car key.
@lovebuglena (53422)
• Staten Island, New York
26 Jun
This is tough to witness and deal with. How old is your mom? Was someone actually stealing her cookies?
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (60282)
• Philippines
26 Jun
It seems that it's too difficult to deal with person whom you love and value so much in your entire life and eventually he or she becomes total forgettable.
1 person likes this
@eLdav1s (978)
• Nigeria
27 Jun
I really like your approach towards this issue, being sad and worried over it won't change anything, it would only make you feel sick at the end of the day. It's to get a few laughs from it.
