I met the lady who bought my old house today. She invited me over for tea and to chat and discuss art. She wanted to see some of my paintings and she showed me some of her drawings. I loved her work - she is a good artist and likes to use bright colours as I do.

It was a little strange being in my house that was no longer my house. She has been making the house her own and she of course changed some things (painted the fireplace mantel black - it looks great - and the bathroom cabinet black (downstairs bath). She has kept up the valances in that bath and in the living room and she loved the colour scheme so she is keeping it. The house looks really nice with her things. She asked me a lot of questions about the bushes, trees and shrubs and what they will look like in the spring.

She then asked me about a lady who walked into her house one day and used the bathroom. Oh no! It was H. She has really deteriorated from her dementia. Over the past year or so she had gotten into the habit of coming by my house and asking to use the bathroom. Sometimes she would just walk right into the house (usually in the warmer weather when the front door was open and the screen door was not locked). Sometimes there were caretakers with her or her dh or some friends. It was fine with me (sometimes she would come and go without even talking to me). Back in October, I told her dh that we were moving and could he please explain that she would not be able to stop by our house anymore.

On the day she walked in the house on the new owner, H. was with a new caretaker. The new owner heard the door open and then open again and a "Hello?!" She came downstairs and saw H. walk past and into the bathroom. The caretaker said "It is just H. using your bathroom" and the new owner saying "Who is H.?". They stared at each other a moment then the new owner said that the house had been sold and that she was a new owner. The caretaker was very embarrassed and quickly explained that H. had memory problems and she apologized. The new owner said no problem and told H that she could stop by again if she needed to but she has not done so again.

Oops! Before we moved I had asked Stephen if we should tell the new owner about H (her visits were probably every week or so) and I think I asked our realtor about it but everyone said no. Our realtor had been at our house one day when H. stopped by so she knew who she was and knew the story. Good think that the new owner was very understanding. It would be very shocked (and scared) if it happened to me.

And the funny thing is that on the way to see the new owner, I saw H. and her dh walking their dog along the street and I waved to them. I even thought to myself "I wonder if H. knows that we moved".