bankbook

 

One of the most serious problems of my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease was repeatedly losing bankbooks. We reissued her bankbooks again and again. After we reissued, the lost old bankbooks would be found, but these were already invalid. However, the new bankbooks would get lost again. We could not deposit money from the banks. To take care of my mother, we needed money.

At that time, my mother had a secretary and an accountant. One day they asked me to keep my mother’s bankbooks. I felt odd because I assumed children should not read parents’ bankbooks. I did not realize Alzheimer’s disease could cause a situation like this. I kept my mother’s bankbooks, but I did not read them. I just put them in my desk.

One day, when I came back home, my mother was angry and said, “Do you know where my bankbooks are?”

I answered honestly, “Your secretary and accountant asked me to keep your bankbooks.”

She got angrier and said, “Don’t touch my bankbooks! Give them back to me immediately!”

I did not have a choice, so I gave her back the bankbooks.

After a few days, the secretary and the accountant extremely scolded me. “She will lose the bankbooks soon. You do not know how complicated the required processes are to reissue the bankbooks!”

They were right. My mother repeatedly lost the bankbooks.

The solution I thought of was to fake the bankbooks. First, I pretended we lost my mother’s bankbooks to the banks so they would give us new ones. Second, I gave my mother old invalid bankbooks then kept the new ones. When my mother insisted she lost the bankbooks, I pretended to look for the bankbooks. Secretly, I would put the new bankbooks where my mother could find them. I let her find the new bankbooks by herself. After she found them and attended to something else, I would take back the new bankbooks and keep them.

To prevent my mother from realizing that her bankbooks were invalid or from using her bankbooks, I always needed to put enough money in her wallet.

It was so complicated and bothersome. Furthermore, I felt guilty as I tricked my mother and the banks. However, I could not find a better way to solve it.

Some older people tend to feel secure when they view their bankbooks, but I feel otherwise.

Picture by Graphs