Yowei Shaw

They reach their street.

She asks again, is Solange back in town?

Brian is trying to parallel park.

And she asks again, is Solange back in town?

Later that night, the house is finally quiet.

His mother-in-law in bed downstairs.

Brian is up late writing a script behind on deadline.

And then suddenly she appears.

He writes, she said she had a text message saying there was food for her in the kitchen.

That's why she came up.

She got very upset, started yelling.

I looked at her phone.

She was reading text messages from a year ago about groceries being delivered.

Brian redirects her to bed.

She'll soon be back.

What makes it even more maddening is that Brian had always enjoyed spending time with his mother-in-law.

Long before the diagnosis, Brian and his wife had actually been trying to convince her to move in with them.

To help with childcare, sure, but also just to hang out more.

In his words, she's a badass.

Brian says even with her Alzheimer's, his mother-in-law can still be really present at times, aware of what's happening.