Sunday, October 17, 2010

Riding Through Autumn with Mother

One of my fondest autumn memories with Mother involved a ride over the back roads of Quaker Hill, NY, as we viewed the colorful leaves.  My husband and I made weekly trips from NH to NYS (a 275 mile journey) to care for Mother and her affairs.

When we arrived at her home this autumn afternoon, Mother, in the mid stages of Alzheimer's, suggested going for a ride.  We had just driven 6 hours, but there was still plenty of daylight and the leaves were so colorful. Also, Quaker Hill figured into my dad's family history, so I thought it would be a good time to explore this area, too. 

Mother "oohed" and "aahed" the whole trip as she admired the brilliant red, yellow, orange and bronze leaves midst the evergreens.  Sometimes it was a single tree along the road.  Other times the view consisted of a panorama spread out before us.  She talked about this ride for days afterward, even though there were other memories she couldn't pull together.

So...when I see the fabulous colors of autumn, I recall the pleasure this outing gave Mother and added a bright spot in her Alzheimer's world.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Newsletter & Quote from Richard Taylor, PhD

Richard Taylor has published another of his monthly newsletters, giving us insight into the life of someone diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  He travels and speaks around the country.

I found so poignant, this quote from Richard's newsletter: Please, just be, that is what we are trying to do, that is what we sometimes need your help to enable us to fully be who we are at the moment.

This is what I learned as a caregiver for my mom and aunt, even though they couldn't verbalize specifically what they wanted me to be.  I learned "to live in this moment in time," with Mother and Auntie and enjoy that moment...to be whomever they wanted me to be and to visit them wherever they might think they were.  I learned it could be an adventure, not one we may have wished, but one we were experiencing.