In addition to the lowest of lows of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s, there are also some pretty great highs. Like these:

• I wake her in the morning, gently running my hand over her back. Her eyelids flutter, eventually opening, and she gives me a bug hug. “Today’s going to be a great day!” I exclaim. “Yes!” she replies enthusiastically.
• We take turns saying the blessing before meals. Actually, I ask her to say the blessing until she says, “It’s your turn!” which is about 1 in every 8 or 9 asks. She says that she’s grateful for the good, and the bad, and then names something amazingly specific (sometimes imagined) which is a great reminder to remember the little things.
• We listen to classical music while she “journals” (cuts up the newspaper and tapes it into a notebook) and I read or work. Every so often, she’ll look up and say, “This music is just so beautiful.”
• On our daily walks, she’ll stop and examine a dropped flower or a leaf, turning it over in her hands, then carrying it home, to tape into a notebook and color around it. The flowers and leaves are usually dead, ones I wouldn’t have given a second glance. A reminder to look for the beauty in everything.
• She hides candy throughout the house. Every so often, she’ll sneak into my office while I’m working and pass me a Hershey’s Nugget or Kiss, with a mischievous grin.
• In the evening, I’ll ask her if she’d like to go to bed, or watch an episode of The Golden Girls. “Oh, the girls! The girls! I just love them.”
• I sneeze. She laughs hysterically. Over, and over, and over.
• She asks me for a dish of ice cream (usually right after she’s finished one). I go into the kitchen, fix a bowl, and when I return and hand it to her, she says with surprise, “Oh! Ice cream! Thank you so much!”

These are the highs I relish.

Bloganuary prompt (using last week’s prompt that I skipped):

Write about the last time you left your comfort zone.

“C’mon, Mom, it’s time for dinner!”

She wandered around, looking lost. “Should I go upstairs?”

“No, we’ll eat in the dining room.”

“But what about him? He needs to eat.”

“I think he’ll be fine” (no idea who he is).

“My husband will be hungry! I’m going to get him!”

I try not to allow looks of pity and sometimes my face betrays me. My heart was breaking.

Her bottom lip started quivering. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yes, Mom, he is. I’m so sorry.”

Sobs erupted. She screams, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Oh, Mom.” I hugged her. “It’s so hard without him, isn’t it?” I held her for several minutes as she sobbed.

She sniffled then said she’d be alright, so I sat in my seat opposite her at the dining room table. We joined hands across the table.

Right before we said the blessing, she looked up and asked, “How long has he been gone?”

“Almost three years, Mom. We were so lucky to be with him as long as we were. He was a great husband and Dad, wasn’t he? This is what I loved about him…”

This is what I’ve been advised to do by her doctors, and my goodness, this is so far out of my comfort zone. Constantly trying to divert the conversation away from Dad’s death, which is one of the very few things she remembers, to other subjects, which she can’t remember. She can’t recall any memories of Dad, other than his death, and when I share memories, the majority of the time she’ll say, “Hm. I don’t remember that.”

Alzheimer’s is such a heartbreaking disease. I’m watching my Mom’s brain die, day by day. It feels like she’s declining so quickly, and her doctors advise me that the disease is progressing slowly. I’m constantly calling on my meditation practice, reminding myself of equanimity, and anicca, and appreciating the moment for what it is, knowing it too, will pass.