we're packin' up the smockclan and headed down to houston this weekend to see my (step)mother and my dad. mother has been diagnosed with sundowners syndrome (a form of alzheimer's) which means mother experiences (along with the "normal" dementia) increasing fear, anxiety, paranoia, and aggression as the day wears on.
being the daughter who lives "far away" -- as well as the youngest by 22 years -- i've been protected from everything for a very long time, but the time has come, i reckon, to grow up.
my oldest sister, nina, the one who has shouldered the brunt of care for the past five years or so and who has been trying to convince everyone that something was wrong, told me that she's glad we're going now, before it's too late for mother to recognize us.
as my other sister, sissy, puts it "mother has good days and bad."
as daddy tells, "baby girl, some days it's the chicken and some days it's the feathers."
Will pray smock... As the sibling who lives farthest away I know what you mean.