blessings
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Dear Mom: You Were My First Blessing

Dear Mom, If life had gone the way I’d planned, I wouldn’t know much about Alzheimer’s disease. I would probably be organizing a party for your 60th birthday at Pappadeaux or Chuy’s instead of selling shirts and bracelets to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association in your memory.  I would probably be naive and foolish,…

peace after alzheimer's
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Saying Goodbye to My Mother: Peace After Alzheimer’s Disease

I didn’t know I would say goodbye to my mother eight days after I wrote Keep Me In Your Heart: A Father’s Day Wish. She finally found peace after Alzheimer’s disease. My mother found peace after Alzheimer’s disease The five days leading up to my mother’s death were physically and emotionally trying. I hated watching…

alzheimer's daughter
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How I’m Navigating the Alzheimer’s Grieving Process As I Lose My Mother

In a 2008 television interview with my parents about my mother’s early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, I told the reporter, “it’s like we’re losing her in slow motion.”  Lately, it seems like I have been surrounded by loss.  Several friends have recently lost parents after long battles with cancer, and, of course, most recently, friends from church…

with my mom and husband

Mama, He’s Crazy: My Mother’s Wisdom About My Future Husband

It means the world to me that my mother knew my husband before it was too late. I remember telling my mother about my feelings for my future husband, heartbroken about his feelings for someone else at the time, during my freshman year of college.  That conversation always make me think of one of my…