Lauren Flake - Grief & Texas
Dear Mom, You weren’t supposed to leave me so soon. I’ve had to do everything without you. You weren’t supposed to leave me so soon. I’ve had a miscarriage. I’ve had two babies. And I’ve had two surgeries. I’ve watched my brother fight addiction. I’ve watched my dad remarry. And I’ve planned funerals. I’ve written […]
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 grief process started back in 2006 with my mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The final stage of grief lasts forever. I will never stop grieving the loss of my […]
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 […]
This will be my tenth Mother’s Day since my mother died. When Mother’s Day is hard because you lost your mom Every day has felt like Mother’s Day since my mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease in May, 16 years ago. Honoring and protecting her became my life’s work during her illness. Now that she is […]
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 […]