Forget-me-not

Dear Dr. Sadie,

I have a little problem. My neighbor is a very nice man, but he is getting older and showing signs of dementia. He often confuses me with a previous neighbor, even though I moved into the house over 20 years ago. Still, he's a wonderful neighbor and a good person.

My problem stems from an incident this summer. His lawnmower broke, right in the middle of his mowing the lawn. He asked if he could borrow my mower to finish his lawn. I happily obliged. When he finished, he put my mower in his garage and didn't return it. I'm certain that he just forgot that it was mine, but I'd like to get it back.

This weekend, his family came around, and are discussing moving him into assisted living. I'm loath to bring up such a petty topic at a difficult time, but my grass is now knee high. What should I do?

- I See Tumbleweeds

You can get another lawnmower at the store. It will cost ten dollars.

You can go over to his house and say, "give me that lawnmower back." I can go over with my Daddy, and we'll ask too.