Elderly
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A DAY FOR MOTHERS–A LIFETIME OF MOTHERING
“Many days have passed and those heads now tower over a space too small for their size. . .the nest has shifted several inches to the right and looks shabby. . .Displaced twigs and deebris have fallen to the ground underneath. Feathers and dung are splashed and stuck to the sides. There is nowhere for… Read more
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NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
“We will likely not even be here when our girls reach the age we are now. I have done the math. So I have to hope that the world they are aging into will one day embrace the wrinkles, the mottled skin and the dementias. For it does not now, and the gap between our… Read more
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OLD FOLKS & ARTICHOKES
“When Granny first taught me how to eat an artichoke, I was perturbed that I had to go through all those layers of armor just to get to that mushroom cap of a heart. Frankly, at 13, i thought the best part was the butter dipping.” Read more
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ALZHEIMER’S & THE GIFT OF FORGETTING
“Only ONCE did Granny say to me during her Alzheimer’s years, “I think I am losing my memory.” It was towards the end, in the middle of that period when she was wearing a diaper and I was re-instructing her on how to use a spoon. She didn’t even know my name and my first… Read more
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THE HUMOR OF ALZHEIMER’S
“There’s nothing funny about Alzheimer’s,” the woman in the audience told me. “It’s just awful–every single part of it–just awful.” As I recall I had just shared some funny moments my husband and I had spent with my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s for the 13 years she lived in our home. Keep in mind, I… Read more
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HELEN HUDSON HERE: BABY BOOMER SANDWICH ON WRY
“but who would ever have guessed that those barefoot, pot smoking, long-haired, free love children would find themselves so ‘un’free 40 years later?” Read more
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CATS MAY HAVE NINE LIVES—WE DON’T
“My mother got that dementia thing,” he told me. “Put her in a home and that was that. Don’t know what all the fuss is about. You can put ’em anywhere. Doesn’t matter. They don’t know where they are anyway.” Read more
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CAREGIVERS, UNSUNG YET SINGING
“Because she had no memory, we often told her it was our birthday simply to have the joy of hearing her sing that familiar refrain to us.” Read more
AGEFULLY AGING 