Mom may not have made any lasting friendships @CarriageInn, but I certainly did. And I will miss seeing them every day. How and why do we make friends? For some it is a case of having something in common. Enjoying the same things. Being from the same town. Having grown up together. Being family. Knowing […]
I came home to find that Mom had gotten hives from the antibiotic pills that the doctor had prescribed. Sister came to the rescue and got her a different kind which, hopefully, will prevent the gangrene that seems to be settling in her leg. Now the big question is, do we attempt a stint to […]
“Why can’t you trust me to do what I say I will?” “Mom, you just need a little help. You sometimes forget.” She looks angry and aggrieved as I insist that she needs a caregiver. The bright blue antibiotic pill remains on the table beside the container of chicken salad sandwich, chips and a cookie […]
Best friends have a completely different way of talking to each other than do acquaintances. Yesterday, the trip to Brennan’s in Houston to connect Lady Y and Lady M went swimmingly. Except, of course, for the traffic jam on I-45 that held us up for almost two hours. Stop and go traffic is miserable especially […]
One of the regrets I have about my 98 year-old mother was her request several years back to go to Mexico to see a dear friend of hers, Martha Gottfried. Martha passed away before we could get Mom a passport so they could get back to share a last few moments together. Both had been […]
It has been a blessing to have so many friends and even strangers come up to me and say “I went through the same thing with my mother,” or “I am going through what you are going through with my parents.” “Your blog brought back so many memories.” While we are going through it, focused […]
It’s the coming and going, off-again on-again nature of memory that makes accepting dementia so difficult. At least it is for those of us on the outside. For Mom, it is frightening when she can’t find her room. Remembering whether she has eaten or not doesn’t seem to matter, but not knowing where she is […]
Last week one of the truly beautiful ladies—sweet, kind, pretty and polite—called me over to her table in the dining room. She still has all her marbles and is only in residence because her husband has lost most of his. “Do you want to sign a petition with us?” she asked. “What on earth for?” […]
“I haven’t seen your son lately,” I said to Lady J. “Ugh,” she says. “I don’t want him around.” “Oh,” I said, looking startled. I waited for the rest of the story. Of course, it came. For several weeks Lady J had suffered from a relapse of some sort and her son had taken a […]
Part of the reason we brought Mom to Carriage Inn was to meet people and make friends. We assumed she would be lonely at the trailer, that she needed company. Well, wrong. No dice. They try to be friendly. Several will stop by her table in the dining room to say “Good Morning, Martha Lou.” […]