This incredible lady announced her retirement today. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelo I began my career at Christie Gardens because of Grace Sweatman. For the previous 15 years, I ran a daycare in my […]

                                                                                                             Alzheimer

It was the find of a lifetime. A grandfather clock in oak which exactly matched my furniture, fit into a corner of my living room perfectly, and was available for garage sale prices. I hovered around it, afraid someone else would snap it up. My son was working for a company where he had access

It was not a good day. An incredibly perceptive person, Ida attended a fitness class she usually loved in the morning. The instructor wasn’t feeling well, and left immediately after the class was over, but in her mind, it had something to do with her. Maybe there was some kind of conspiracy, or maybe he

You’re sitting in the doctor’s office beside your mother. Your heart is pounding. There were months of suspicions and worry, weeks of tests, days of reassuring yourself and having conversations in your mind. Finally, it comes to this.The doctor turns to your mother and says, “You have Alzheimer’s” Time stops. You were almost certain this

Several years ago, I visited another facility for a course I was taking. I was there over the lunch hour, and we were toured through the “dementia unit,” as the course was related to this topic. They were proud of their modern, newly built area. It was lovely, and they had all the latest in

You dreaded this day. You knew it would come. You saw it coming. You probably put it off too long.Now it’s here. It’s moving day. Your family member is moving into a care situation. You’ve spent month visiting, asking questions and trying to figure out what the best place would be. This one is new

A woman in her 90’s pulls her pants above the knees, sits back and suns her legs. A man with dementia gathers firewood and helps build a fire like he did so many times during family vacations.A man in a wheelchair, virtually blind, becomes teary during a “walk” in the woods, as he remembers his

   Our small community, like many others, was devastated by the effects of the ice storm of December, 2013. For weeks afterwards, ankle-deep piles of broken branches littered the streets. I’ve never been in the aftermath of a hurricane, but the effect on nature must be similar. My heart hurt to see the mess and

Remember the old “B.C.” comics? (You have to be a certain age to know what I’m talking about.) One of the themes had a character climbing a mountain to ask the wise man on the top about the meaning of life. Presumably, after he was told, he would go back down to live his life