Blessed & Curvy

As a child no matter what age your parent will always think of you as their baby! I became a caregiver in October 2004 to my mother who was diagnosed with dementia. The fear of the responsibility of making sure medicines were taken correctly, all the finances were handled, and most important my mother was comfortable. It was determined that she would live with my sister and within two months realizing that was overwhelming and a group home would be best with 24 hour care. Since I worked from home it was also easier for myself to be active within her daily care with visits, taking her out, and also monitoring her activities.  I learned so much within the two years that she had relocated to California, There were new doctors to find, adult daycare to locate, and still maintain her dignity as the parent. Yet our roles were reversing and I was becoming the parent. I was bathing her, surprising her with stuffed animals and when she couldn't remember who I was I didn...

I stopped putting up a Christmas tree the year after my mother passed. Christmas was her favorite holiday, it was went she knew all her children were going to come home or call her. She was busy cooking in the kitchen all of our favorite dishes, making sure the house was decorated and the tree was lit. I had taken my mother to the hospital for what we thought was going to be something simple, she would get medication and come home. I had ordered her gifts that were under the tree, I had thought she must have pneumonia because they are keeping her. She would be home in time for Christmas and what we learned was she wasn’t coming home this trip but she was dying.  As a caregiver you’re so focused on the love one that you have their schedule memorized, have the doctor’s phone numbers programmed into the phone, and you’re on alert. I had no control over this situation and it felt like it was in warp speed. When the dust settled she was gone, a piece of me was lai...