Merry Christmas Everyone! This photo is from Christmas 2010. Looking back, it was a really beautiful time in that Mom was still able to walk and talk and had all the wonder of a child on Christmas morning. The funny thing about looking back through old photos is that it teaches you how we need to celebrate life more in the moment.
After 2 1/2 years in hospice, I guess it’s a miracle Mom’s even with us this morning. That’s what I was thinking about when I first came across the photo and started to tear-up. “The good ol’days” are right now, even when you don’t think so at the time so I’m just trying to take in every moment this Christmas as a blessing. You don’t always see the magic you have in front of you, until it’s past tense.
Today, we wheeled mom into the dining room in her wheelchair to join us for Christmas dinner. She was there in spirit but could not verbalize her thoughts or feed herself. Who knows what next Christmas will bring? I just want to remember her now, exactly as she is and not wishing she was “the way she was when…” That old saying: “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” describes how I’ve felt through each and every stage as Alzheimer’s.
