Tag: dementia
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Singing to free the hostage…
Writing about my “hostage situation” in McDonald’s made me think of my father’s week-long experience as a McDonald’s hostage — at least in his mind. The day after my father turned 76, he attempted to use his foot to shift a box in the garage. He lost his balance and his mind in the process. The fall broke […]
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Memories my mother never mentioned…
Between the ages of 6 and 19, I moved often. When I was in fourth grade, my family lived in one house for just three months before abruptly moving to another for an equally brief period. The reasons we moved were different—my fourth grade year, for instance, high rent necessitated the first move while the […]
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No longer worrying that “it could happen to me”…
I’ve been reading the book of Job with my literature students recently, and we all agree that we wouldn’t want to claim Job’s comforters for ourselves. They weren’t very comforting. Sure, when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar first arrived, they grieved with calamity Job silently—but once they opened their mouths, their apparent support for Job deteriorated […]
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Mom’s move to memory care…
My mom became a perfect square this year: 81. I envisioned throwing a Pinterest-worthy birthday party, where we decorated in squares, dressed as squares, ate square-shaped food, and framed photos of my mom during her other perfectly square years (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, etc.). It would have been a lot of work—and she wouldn’t […]
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Mom for a week…
“A gray head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31, NASB). I mentioned to my mother that she would be going home. She looked at me, sincerely, and said, “Oh, I thought this was my home.” And so, instead of being all here, my mom began perseverating […]
All Things Work Together 