“Psychology Today” describes resilience as “that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them…
In his kitchen, until he was unable, Grandpa carved with precision. He would cut each beef tenderloin slice into near equal widths, and the widths were thin, the way I…
Long after Grandpa retired from Northeastern University as a professor in civil engineering, Grandpa wore ties and blazers. Not every day, and all the time, but frequently. To me, this…
It took calling the police before we could get Grandpa into the ambulance. First, he accused his caregiver of trying to kidnap him. To avoid such a fate, he escaped…
Grandpa had a urinary tract infection. For people with advanced dementia, it turns out that such relatively minor ailments can set off paranoid incidents. The good news was that his…
Long ago- to get through Husband’s cancer – I learned not to get lost in the probabilities of possibilities. There was a 30% probability that this next round of chemo…
Did you hear the giant sucking sound? That was yet another of my days being sucked down the care-giving drain. My “eeeyuck” that came along with it was me getting…
This morning I woke up panicked. What if five years from now Grandpa’s care needs have only increased? What if the mild depression that comes like weak mist each time…
Someday we will be old. Someday we will require care, too. We can bravely say from the surety of our middle-aged youth that if we ever got like Grandpa, then…