Why is my mother-in-law obsessed with visiting her safety deposit box?

Long before my Mom got dementia she was obesessed with her money. She lived to go to the bank and look in her safe deposit box, loved to talk about her CD rates, etc - like she was a secret millionaire or something. (No where near) It made her feel secure and I think important.

And since Mom never spent a penny she didn't have to or anything (or anyone), one of the first signs I saw of her disease was not keeping her checkbook properly, and then we discovered she had been writing checks to a neighbor for like $100 a week to rake the yard. And it got worse.

After Mom's 'episode' that finally allowed me to step in for her, I found an entire dresser stuffed full of expensive mailings from a political party. Later found out she had sent so many thousands in the preceding years she was listed as the 3rd largest individual contributor in the STATE.

Heidi, Those are a part of her life, of her possession, something tangible which she can look at and touch and feel. I read that she has cancer, if I recall, but I don't remember her age. Perhaps she is losing herself gradually to the disease, and she is holding onto her physical world out of fear. Who knows, really? It is a delicate subject to broach, and if she is not aware of her spiritual beliefs--even if she is--when it comes down to it, it seems by her visiting her safe deposit box, she is processing what is becoming of her life in her own way.
Blessings to you, dear one:) Christina