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My Mom spent her last days in a very nice ALF, but because of her mental state she thought she was being held against her will and subjected to all sorts of unpleasant treatment. The only thing that kept her happy was that she had a phone in her room, a private line that didn't go through the switchboard. She was the envy of the ALF, and that's important to people at that age in that mental state. Anyway, she would call everyone in the family at least a dozen times a day, but would forget who she had called, so when you answered all you heard was her breathing and her TV in the background. When you said hello to her she would ask why you had called her. It became a family joke and we tolerated in because it was just so "her". She went through a spell where when you answered she her salutation would be "you've gotta get me out of this hell-hole." After she passed away it took us about two weeks to get everyone assembled for her memorial service which took place in the chapel of a local funeral home. The joke was that she probably had at least a dozen calls to us still floating around and it would be weeks before they got to us. During the service a door between the chapel and a small adjoining office was left open and darned if the phone didn't ring right in the middle of the service! Everyone there had the same thought, and we had a great, tears in your eyes, laugh at it. Talk about an ice-breaker.

I agree she's in a far better place, but I'm sure they have e-mail. It's heaven though because there's no spam!