FOREVER LOVE

Today I wanted to share this story that someone sent to me—Really Touched My Heart—Since My Dad had Alzheimer’s and My Mom wanted to be by his side Every Day.

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80′s arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted my hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’ — with Sharon Genovay.

VISITNG FAMILY

How has the New Year started off  for you?  Are you keeping any of those resolutions you made?  I will be totally honest here – NOPE – I have not even begun my resolutions….well not true – I am working on my word for the year – SPIRITUAL… but I am not down to a routine yet – that makes me crazy!

Last weekend my son and daughter were able to visit my Mom down south (about 4 hours from us)…she had some things for us to pick up and it was the perfect time for the kids to visit and spend some time with her.
I told my daughter to take some pics – so I will share a couple:

My Mom
She has a smile that lights up my life….it makes my heart sing when I see her smile….I soooooo Love it!!

This is one of my favorites – My Son  AJ walking down a corridor with my Mom (his Nana) just talking….I so love it!! It just says love and dreamy to me.

As soon as my daughter uploads the pics of her with my mom I will show you all that one….I know my mom had a great time seeing the kids.
So my daughter uploaded a few pics of the grandkids….so I am showing you all the latest one…she did upload also a video of the babies crawling – OMG…I began to cry…my son on the tape is calling her name and she is doing her best to get to me…she even at one point reaches out her hand to touch him…so very cool – I cried..if I can figure out how to download it from facebook and upload it here I will.

Seeing my grandbabies faces just fills me with such joy….they are just toooooo cute!! She can really hold her head up now – too cool!
My grandson just turned 3 last saturday….getting so big…and what a ham….LOL

So – I think I have pretty much updated you all on what is happening here….I hope if you all live with the snow and ice is plentiful – please stay warm – snuggle with someone or something you love….the cold again is going to hit the sunshine state tomorrow – so it is time to put the sweat pants and sweat shirts on again…I never thought I would ever say that living in Florida but it is true!!

THANK YOU for stopping by…I so appreciate the support…remember to HUG those you LOVE…because you are only guaranteed this one moment-now!

PEACE-

TRYING TO MOVE FORWARD

Life has taken some turns for me - I have been gone for so long that I noticed not many of my friends keep a blog/journal any longer - that saddens my heart. I tried to keep up with everyone - but I let my personal life run my life--let me explain. I know that things will happen and one must take care of things - but those things were running my life….my mind became so consumed by “what will happen next” that I no longer had the capability to move forward with my own life - instead I worried about everything else. Am I making any sense yet? Last Thanksgiving things took a drastic change - my brother and the police found my dad kicking my mother (who was on the ground) and he was totally unresponsive. Dementia hit him hard and fast…yes there were little signs - but now he is not coming back--then my brother had to find a place that could take care of dad and a place were my mom can live on….he did and he had to make hard decisions. I had no part in any of it - but I am thinking now that it was probably a good idea that I did not --because I do not think I could have found the strength to find all the help and take care of all the personal things that my parents needed done. My brother is extremely emotionally detached…and he is able to keep a level head so much more easier then me. Now the months following - my mother would call daily crying to me how lonely she was - how much she wanted to be with my dad - how much no one loves her…and the list went on…every phone call I tried to reassure her that life was good and dad needed the special care and she was very well loved and cared about….that is when it hit me to send my mom flowers to just say I love you….so since she moved into this senior citizen complex - I have sent her flowers once a month. She is in heaven. Her phone calls are happy and excited because she received beautiful flowers and her “neighbors” became more friendly because they saw flowers always getting delivered. The last month of my dad’s life was very stressful for her - she noticed he was going down hill - his verbal skills were non-existent….he also was no longer responding to her like he was. Then he finally closed his eyes and God saw fit to give him his final peace. My mom misses him tremendously but she also said that she is blessed that the last few months of his life they were not in the same house - because she felt it would have been harder for her. I thought I would be able to handle things better - I am wrong. First I saw my mom after a couple of years of not being around (even tho we talk every week) and she looked VERY unstable on her feet….she could not sit still for more then 5 minutes …. Always seemed nervous. I felt so bad because I just do not know how to help her. I still send her flowers of course - but you can just tell that her life is so very empty without my dad. They made it to 60 years together - that in itself is a true blessing. I should feel blessed for all the wonderful memories I have of my dad - of all the help he gave me when I was a single mom - for everything…. But I feel such a loss that I cannot call him and just say “Hi Old Man-Watcha Doing?”. That leaves me sad and empty--and causes me to cry. I really miss him. At the funeral I felt very left out of everything…I guess that is my own fault…but very disconnected nonetheless. There was no warm feelings from my siblings - no support - nothing. I tried to reach out but I was quickly ignored in a snobbish way. I think my siblings would have preferred that I was not there--that I never showed up because I really did not belong. We were going to stay the night just to visit with everyone but I quickly got the feeling I was not welcomed…and so I have not heard from any of my family down there since then. My dad (I believe) was my connection with my siblings since he lived down near them and now that he is gone - there is no reason for them to stay in touch with me. I miss my dad - I knew it would be hard on me when he died - I knew that I would be the one who would have to problem of moving on--but God I miss him. I am trying to get back to what little a normal life I used to have…but I cannot seem to concentrate and I definitely do not have the motivation. I am slowly reaching out to peeps I used to visit in blog land, friends, etc…but it really is taking me a long time to feel OK to do any of that. Hopefully this is the start to something positive --at least something of a sign of moving forward. Thanks for stopping by - HUG those you LOVE - because Life is way too short~!~ PEACE!!!!