Entries 628

Page 22 of 26

It’s like being in a different world this week compared to last. I’m relatively relaxed, life seems to have returned to what passes for normal these days, and Hurricane Dorian is now a terrible,...

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My whole life I’ve been aware of the homeless among us. I remember like it was yesterday driving with my parents in downtown New Orleans and going down Camp Street, which was the city’s Skid Row ...

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One of the most frequent comments I get from people who read my journal is this, “I don’t know how you do it. I could never do what you’re doing.” Before I say anything else, I’ll say this. I...

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The summer heat is bearing down on us big time now in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I’m feeling my age, too, and can’t seem to take the heat like I once could. Shady sidewalks have never se...

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5 am Deborah Barr wrote a beautiful and wise book for caregivers titled, “Grace for the Unexpected Journey: a 60-day devotional for Alzheimer’s and other dementia caregivers.” I’m only about ha...

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Things are getting harder and harder. I can’t bear to think of it, but I see Mom entering the last stage. I’m thinking more frequently of Hospice, particularly as I believe I’ll soon need a nu...

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Back in the late 50’s and early 60s, before I started my lawn mowing business, my brother and I were given a very modest allowance of 25 cents a week. Even adjusted for inflation it wasn’t much...

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This has been a week of extremes with Mom. Most days she is sleeping all day and only waking in the latter part of the evening. And this can be a truly deep sleep wherein it’s increasingly diff...

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It’s a quiet Saturday night in early February and I’m sitting here on the sofa with Mom listening to some relaxing music and my new, lighted Zen waterfall. It’s very peaceful. The home aide lef...

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9:30 pm Lately I’m starting to feel as if I’m on the final leg of this long descent into night of Mom’s struggle with dementia. Her vitals and blood sugar levels continue to be good for the mos...

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I’ve been in an upbeat mood this Christmas season, decorating our tree for the first time and buying a lot of Christmas-related items for Mom such as small Christmas bears and singing snowmen, an...

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I’ve debated and struggled with the topic of this entry for several weeks now. I need to write it and yet I can’t seem to start writing it. I’ve written out portions of it in my mind; I’ve t...

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I just had to share these pictures with you that I took recently with my iPhone camera. At both locations, very close to where I live, there are often gorgeous sunsets to behold and photograp...

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As I begin to write this I’m listening to Thad Fiscella’s hauntingly beautiful album, “Vast.” But I’ve been reading compulsively all day about the surreal wildfires in California, which one resi...

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It’s been a little over three weeks but the shock has not worn off. It’s as if there was a time before the headline and then there is now, after the news, when the future seems much less certain...

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October 3, 2018 I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down. The new shoots are livelier then ever. I am rising toward the sky. The sunshine i...

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Dementia Journal — Storms — Sept. 20, 2018 I’m lying in bed upstairs relaxing tonight, listening to some soothing music. There’s no baby monitor on. I don’t have to listen out for Mom because o...

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One of the garden statues Mom brought here from her garden in New Orleans, 23 years ago. “I feel like I’m in a Heavenly area and I’m taking you with me.” “God, will you please take care of me an...

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“One gerontologist has suggested that as we age we externalize our identity onto things. For example, we buy an inexpensive mug to remind us of a vacation we have enjoyed . Every time we use ...

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“If we if we could see the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should of be amazed at their splendid mag...

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Mom’s been so sweet lately. All day she sits on the big sofa in the den and dozes for long stretches , wakes up and starts asking questions or reads either out loud or to herself her favorite Bi...

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This past May 31 marked the one-year anniversary of my retirement after 21 years at my last place of employment. It now feels like I’ve always lived like this, although it took about six months...

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Today is Mother’s Day, and I’ve tried to fill the den with flowers because Mom loves them so much. I woke up late this morning because no caregivers were coming in. One was supposed to come an...

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Dementia brings a severe loss of memory and awareness of one’s surroundings. Mom will often gets some question in her mind she urgently wants answered. She will repeat it over and over and eac...

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There is another kind of silence to be cultivated besides that of the tongue regarding others. I mean silence regarding oneself — restraining the imagination, not permitting it to dwell too much...

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