A key life lesson I’ve learned over 85 years is to face moments that challenge your beliefs.   The aging process offers these moments too soon and too often. When a family member, friend or the media cause you to ask yourself, “is this really true; did I make a mistake, or am I really losing it?” Well, a case of this dilemma happened to me ‘once again.

l woke up one morning and found two decks of cards strewn on the living room rug of my apartment. I stood looking at the decks wondering how did they get there from the bottom shelve of the bookcase where they were originally stored?

I stood kinda stunned! I took a picture of the wayward decks because I wanted, no needed to mark this occasion in my memory “was this a big marker of my decline?” I knew hadn’t gone to bed with decks of cards lying on the rug in an ‘not paying attention moment’ as I could trip and fall. And anyone knows that falls are a major hazard for the elderly. I have at least two friends in my age group who are dealing with the repercussions of falling. Bruises, broken bones or worse, in my humble opinion, concussions which may lead to other concerns regarding memory, etc. The recovery process for falls can be long and arduous as older bones may be more brittle taking longer to repair.

I told my son when he came over and his take on the cards was” maybe you walked in your sleep and took the cards out.” My immediate response was “I don’t walk in my sleep.” He asked, “Mom, then how did the decks end up on the floor?”  “Do you think that someone broke into your apartment and placed the cards there or accidently bumped into the bookcase causing only those two decks to fall out onto the floor, then lock the door, from inside, behind them? I stood aghast and started going through my compromised with age memory and tried to think of another excuse for the cards being there. 

I did remember a discussion with my friend with whom I ride to church. She told me that during a Christmas holiday gathering a Monopoly game with so many family members had caused them to pay only $20 when passing “Go” in lieu of the $200 required because there were so many members playing. She smiled as she talked about the laughter and fun of running out of the Monopoly money causing her to think about ordering Monopoly money only from Amazon or the like. At the time I thought about offering her the money from my ‘not played forever’ Monopoly game stored in the bottom shelve of the bookcase. I decided to wait before I offered because that was a game that my family loved to play and I would offer to loan her money if she needed it again. 

Could I have walked in my sleep? Could I have moved the card decks to get to the Monopoly game and neglected to return the cards to their proper place? Certainly, no one had broken into my apartment for that purpose. Well, I decided, this is just another effect of growing older. So you walk in your sleep too! “What else, dear God?” 

Well, dear readers, the mystery has been solved! My son agrees that I probably didn’t walk in my sleep regarding the mysterious deck of cards; however, the answer is perhaps much worse, the mice are back! Or perhaps never left my apartment. The assistant maintenance person had brought me a device that you plug into an electrical plug unit that blinks a red light that is “supposed” to send out a sound that causes mice to run away. It seemed to be working. No mice or signs of mice in the kitchen, their favorite place to rummage. 

The other afternoon, I discovered signs that the mice or mouse had returned. They, or it was eating the floorboards in the kitchen leaving crumbs of plastic on the floor around the dish washer. I called the lease office who sent the contracted exterminator over. He laughed at the blinking light and said he knew occasions where mice would poop on top of the device and keep foraging. 

My son came over after work to support his aging mother plagued with mice. I was on a Zoom call with my church members and motioned for him to wait a few moments for the meeting to end. He reached for the jar of mixed nuts I have on the bar (I only use a folding table and chairs when needed, the bar is more efficient for my living space purposes 😌). After a couple of minutes, a sound from him caused me to turn and he was pointing at the plastic container of nuts, gagging. I saw two jagged holes in the bottom of the jar as my son said “mice, I ate some of the nuts. I have to go home”. We originally threw the damaged goods in the garbage as he slightly staggered out the door. He called me to apologize for leaving (a queasy stomach from a spicy lunch then sharing the nuts with mice had exacerbated his distress). He asked if he should return. “No, tomorrow would be fine”. However, I retrieved the evidence we had thrown in the trash for taking to the lease office.  

The next morning, I replayed the memory of the night before wondering how and why themice had moved from the kitchen to the bar in the living room? I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and began to investigate the scene. The jar of nuts had been placed on bar near where I sit while eating and watching the news or a movie on tv. There were a few mouse droppings around where the jar once stood, not readily noticeable on the dark wood. I looked at the rug around the area, which sits next to the sofa. I pulled the sofa from the wall and screamed!  There was a nest, with a pile of mice poop and mixed nuts scattered around.

It was the mouse/mice that scattered the playing cards! I did not walk in my sleep! I was not losing it as fast as I had come to believe. I should believe what I believe and never (almost never) doubt or second guess myself!