Anyone who’s tried to follow this blog knows there haven’t been posts in quite awhile. Call it writer’s block when it comes to the subject of my beloved mother. The more I watched her decline, the harder it got to verbalize my feelings.
Well now I’m going to do the best I can. I have no choice because around 9:30 pm on August 29th, she died while I was feeding her. Alzheimer’s is a slow cruel death that you prepare yourself for over a period of years and yet the end is never easy.
I take comfort in the fact that I was privileged to have been born to one of the “coolest Mom’s on earth” as I’m hearing from childhood friends who knew her. Not because she let us do whatever we wanted to. It was because she was fun, funny, creative and just made everyone feel good about themselves ( like Mary Tyler Moore’s character, she turned the world on with her smile). As a teacher, she manage to turn every day life into valuable lessons. I can’t remember ever being bored through my entire childhood or even getting in an argument with her. We had a special bond that went beyond mother-daughter, it’s like our souls were somehow connected. When people ask how could you take care of your mother the way you have for twenty years? I can only respond– How could I not? She showered everyone with unconditional love so I felt she deserved the same.
Last Saturday night, her spirit left us for a better place where her mind is sharp, her body can move and her timeless beauty shines through it all.
There will be a funeral service for Charla Boteler at 11:00 AM on August 4 at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fairfield CT. The service will be immediately followed by a reception in the parish hall celebrating her life and accomplishments, even in the midst of Alzheimer’s disease. Those wishing to make donations in her memory are encouraged to support The Alzheimer Association. After the service, Charla will be buried in St Joseph Missouri next to her husband, William Connett Boteler.
God Bless you Mom!
