Thanks so much, everyone, for the birthday wishes! I'm hoping today will be really nice.

I called my father, who is in an assisted living. I sort of figured that if I didn't call him, I wouldn't hear from him. I was certainly right. When the conversation started it was clear that he didn't know that today was my birthday. I can understand how people in such a situation might lose track of the date, however when I told him it was my birthday, he said he thought my birthday was in June. That is disconcerting. Frankly, my siblings and some others are aware that he has some cognitive issues. We believe he has the beginnings of some form of dementia. We had wanted to get him to a neurologist and also psychiatrist weeks ago, but as you know it has not been so possible. If he went, he would not have been allowed back into the assisted living. Dad's due to finally come home at the end of this month, but I believe he will chicken out and want to stay at the facility even longer. Avoidance.