Why Your Birthdays Feel So Very Different when Your Mother is Dead

Why Your Birthdays Feel So Very Different when Your Mother is Dead

Birthdays feel different when your mother is dead. No one makes you feel special the way that she did. Why your birthdays feel so very different when your mother is dead No one starts your morning with a phone call the way that she did. And no one buys you a dozen pink roses the…

death of a loved one
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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
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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. Seventeen years ago today, on January…