Martha

Martha is one of the Lieberman Residents who has become part of Gregory and my Lieberman Family. She sits to Gregory's left for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She is fairly sprite, is able to feed herself despite severe arthritis, has a wicked sense of humor, and at times makes no sense through her Dementia. None-the-less, the is a great conversationalist.

She doesn't like to drink much, she especially doesn't like the juice they serve morning, noon, and night. So whenever I am with Gregory at meals, I try to get her to drink more. "MARTHA (I shout - as she is hard of hearing,) you need to drink more. You know the human body is made up of 80% water!" Sometimes she drinks, sometimes she excuses.

I started bringing her (and Gregory) a glass of ice water. Gregory drinks both his juice and his ice water. Martha ignores her juice and often forgets the ice water. The way I get her to drink, if she won't follow my cajoling, is to lift my glass to her saying, "L'Chaim," which is a Jewish toast meaning "To Life."

This will cause Martha to pick up her glass and reply, "L'Chiam." Sometimes she takes a drink and sometimes she just puts the glass down. "No no, Martha," I insist, "One has to drink when a toast is made." She will begrudgingly but lovingly pick up her glass again and take one or two drinks.

One day, to get her to drink a little more, I proposed a toast, "MARTHA, To a long life." She looked at me with an evil wink of her eye and replied, "I am 97 years old! How much more life are wishing on me?" Then she chuckled and I did as well.