Why I Believe the Final Stage of Grief Lasts Forever after Losing My Mom
The final stage of grief lasts forever. My mother has been dead for 10 years. But I’ve been grieving her loss for over 15 years.
My Mother Needed Us to Love Her until the End of Alzheimer’s Disease
My mother needed us to love her until the end of Alzheimer’s disease. My grandmother took this photo of my mother, my husband, and me over a decade ago. It was Thanksgiving Day, six months after my mother’s initial diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. And it was seven years before the end of Alzheimer’s…
My Mother Left Her Mark on Everything She Touched Before She Died
My mother left her mark on everything she touched before she died. She’s been gone for almost a decade. Early onset Alzheimer’s disease took her from me. But I still find signs of my mother everywhere I look. My mother left her mark on everything she touched before she died. I still find her handwriting…
The Expected Death of a Loved One Still Hurts Terribly
The expected death of a loved one still hurts terribly. My mother lived with early onset Alzheimer’s disease for over a decade. She lived in a nursing home with advanced dementia for almost five years. And she lived on hospice care for two years. I prepared for her death for years. I was relieved, of…
I’m Happy She Still Knew I Was Her Daughter at My Wedding Despite Alzheimer’s
We were originally supposed to get married in May of 2008. But, when it was clear that my mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s disease was progressing rapidly, we moved the wedding up by four months. I’m happy she still knew I was her daughter at my wedding despite Alzheimer’s disease. Fifteen years ago today, on January…