The matriarch stays up in her room until mealtime then joins us. She doesn't say much and eats even less but I don't think she is depressed, I do think she is lonely. Sometimes when the children argue across the table and my husband says to quiet down, she shakes her head and smiles. It makes me happy to see her think beyond herself...or she could be thinking of herself years ago. My husband is an only child so I know his house was much quieter than our's is now. I don't surmise the matriarch is thinking of then. Sometimes, I think our house is constant chaos; but, I like it and the children seem to as well. Even the matriarch is used to the constant noise.
I am not supposed to worry about the matriarch. As much as she is old and fragile, she is quite capable of making her own decisions and I cannot resent her wanting to be in her room. Yet, she always wants to go out with me. Over the past few days, a number of visitors have popped by and the matriarch loves being introduced to strangers. At least, she seems to like it; a friend popped by with some leftover foodstuffs from a soccer tournament and the matriarch came down to meet him--in her robe, no less. Go figure. Can a man always be wanted even when the lady in question is in her nineties? Is that vanity or loneliness?
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