the day i found my mother dead
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The Day I Found My Mother Dead after Alzheimer’s Disease

I will never forget the moment I walked in to find my mother had taken her last breath. I stopped in my tracks on the nursing home’s linoleum floor, asking my father, who was right behind me, “Is she dead?” Slowly, I backed away, up against the wall across from her bed, as I stared…

When You Don’t Feel Like You Are Enough
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When You Don’t Feel Like You Are Enough

I’ll never forget the day I missed my oldest daughter rolling over for the first time. My precious baby was in good hands, of course. My mother-in-law was watching her downstairs in our living room while I worked upstairs, futilely trying to run a nonprofit from my home office right after giving birth to my…

early onset alzheimer's disease
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When My Mother Forgot My Birthday because of Her Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

My mother forgot my seventeenth birthday. My junior prom had been the evening before, and I slept over at a friend’s house. When I walked through the front door with my overnight bag that Sunday morning, I fully expected a “Happy Birthday” greeting from my family, yet I received none. Exhausted from the late-night shenanigans…