We left early on a Friday morning for the Midwest. My father was finally on the road, returning to his home state. I’m quite sure that his agenda was to find a home they could live in and make that important move back to his roots where he wanted to die. We started making plans [...]
I was telling my daughter about my high school class reunion and her compassionate response spurred me to further thought and consideration. She commented that high school seems to be such a difficult time for so many students. It was true in my day, 50 years ago, it was true in her day, 25 years ago, [...]
As SCJ’s Senior Moments blog said last week, this is the season of class reunions. I happen to be one that is ‘celebrating’ 50 years of highschool graduation. And I did struggle with whether I really wanted to attend or not. In fact, I choose to NOT. And I did have good ‘excuses’: we were to [...]
As we were driving to the airport this morning, my sisters and I remembered other pieces of Dad’s jewelry that hadn’t been given to my hospice sister for ‘safe keeping’. One of my sisters said she thought that the gold chain was a gift to Dad from his wife, our step mother, and perhaps [...]
Agendas…as my sisters and I were taking our hospice-expert sister back to the airport this morning, she commented, “I wonder if I’ll ever come here without an agenda.” She’s the one who, a year ago, started talking with Dad and his wife about ‘dying’. Each time she makes her monthly pilgrimage to spend a [...]
One of the difficult pieces of dad’s dementia has been listening to his ‘onceinawhile’ verbal attacks. They haven’t been frequent, nor have they been vicious, both of which my hospice sister says could change. One day, recently, I went with my father to the gas station to fill his car. He willingly and almost automatically [...]
Reality walked out the back door with Dad and his wife, our second mom, when any discussion about a move to their ’home state’ was on their plate. It seemed for this 94 year old demented father of ours and his 82 year old wife, that they would be able to handle the severe cold weather, the [...]
When I turned 60, my husband had just retired. He’d taught French and Spanish for 150 years and he was ready to do volunteer work and garden. I was ready for a different adventure, but hadn’t quite figured out what that adventure was going to look like. So when my youngest daughter asked me one [...]
They started talking the other day…to me…about moving. I am 68 and the thought of moving does some very uncomfortable things to my innards. Dad is 94 and his wife, our second mom, is 82 and they are talking about moving half way across the country. I try to remember what I’ve learned from my [...]
Dad wants to return to his roots to die. He’s very adamant about it and extremely clear. He wants to return to the state in which he was born and spent the first 50 years of his life. The fact that he can even verbalize this feeling amazes me. But I can attribute it to [...]
