As I have written before, my mom has frontal lobe disorder which is a type of Alzheimer's. She is getting worse all the time. Now she is at the point where you cannot believe anything she says because it is not real. She makes things up in her own mind and believes them. It is some of these things that are very funny. Laughter is good medicine for us all especially when watching your mom go downhill before your very eyes.
Two weeks ago, we were at our regular Thursday morning breakfast when a song by Elvis came on the radio. She looked at me and said, "I lived so close to him in Tennessee and never even knew it." I shook my head yes knowing that lots of people lived close to him and were in the same boat. That statement would have been fine but it was followed up by this story.
"Did I ever tell you about how Elvis traveled around before he was famous? I took you to see him. You were about 3 or 4. I took you up to him and told him that he had to hear you sing. So you sang for him and he said, 'This girl is so good, I would like to take her on the road.' He laughed and of course, I wouldn't let you go. But you know how they give each other those things?"
"You mean awards?" I asked.
"Yes. Well Elvis received on and he said, 'I am so glad to get this award but I don't know why you just didn't give it to the little girl.' I never told that story to anybody because they would have thought I was crazy."
By this time I was laughing so hard I could hardly speak. I took out a piece of paper from my purse and wrote down a few key words so that I would not forget this story. As I think about it now, I am still smiling. She doesn't remember telling it to me. In fact, she doesn't even remember that we went to breakfast. But that's OK because during that morning I learned something that I have wondered about for a long time. Where did Elvis learn his moves? Now I know. It was from a little girl from Boogersville, Tennessee who should have won the award. :)
