Memory Loss
Today I am grateful for safe travels for many of us over the weekend, for time with my extended family, for beautiful weather, and numerous pauses to appreciate some amazing sunrises and sunsets across the rolling hills of northeast Iowa.
Back to this A-Z list of challenges and catalysts and it is the letter "M" today. MEMORY loss has my mom on my mind first. As her dementia progresses, her memory plays more tricks on her. She was confusing her children with her siblings recently. And yet, she can recount an earlier memory with some accuracy.
I have no expectations of who and what Mom will remember anymore. It is still unsettling and emotional to see it and hear it play out though. It is a different kind of grief and loss. She has some remaining comprehension that she is comprehending less and less. How must that feel to her? It brings a gentle compassion to my heart, and that is a catalyst to more kindness and gentleness.
Life is precious. Life is fragile. And my mom and I also have long believed that life is worth writing about. We have both preserved a multitude of memories. She leaves us a treasure in the words she has written over the last seven decades. I am currently reading some of that treasure and so very grateful and touched by this legacy of legible memories that will live on.
When it comes to MEMORY, I am also facing my own challenges brought on by peri-menopause and midlife. Some days I am sharp and clicking on all cylinders. Other days, I am foggy and forget what I was planning to do in this room I just walked into for some reason or another. Maddening. But I keep it in perspective. Making lists can help. A little humor lightens it up. Whatever I needed to do will come back later, or maybe really just wasn't necessary at all.
Through it all, I write. And I play word games on my phone to keep my brain sharp too. I fear dementia and what it does, but I won't let that fear steal today. I won't let it become an obstacle to the words and memories that flow forth, that beg to be written. I honor it all by writing. Write on!
Back to this A-Z list of challenges and catalysts and it is the letter "M" today. MEMORY loss has my mom on my mind first. As her dementia progresses, her memory plays more tricks on her. She was confusing her children with her siblings recently. And yet, she can recount an earlier memory with some accuracy.
I have no expectations of who and what Mom will remember anymore. It is still unsettling and emotional to see it and hear it play out though. It is a different kind of grief and loss. She has some remaining comprehension that she is comprehending less and less. How must that feel to her? It brings a gentle compassion to my heart, and that is a catalyst to more kindness and gentleness.
Life is precious. Life is fragile. And my mom and I also have long believed that life is worth writing about. We have both preserved a multitude of memories. She leaves us a treasure in the words she has written over the last seven decades. I am currently reading some of that treasure and so very grateful and touched by this legacy of legible memories that will live on.
When it comes to MEMORY, I am also facing my own challenges brought on by peri-menopause and midlife. Some days I am sharp and clicking on all cylinders. Other days, I am foggy and forget what I was planning to do in this room I just walked into for some reason or another. Maddening. But I keep it in perspective. Making lists can help. A little humor lightens it up. Whatever I needed to do will come back later, or maybe really just wasn't necessary at all.
Through it all, I write. And I play word games on my phone to keep my brain sharp too. I fear dementia and what it does, but I won't let that fear steal today. I won't let it become an obstacle to the words and memories that flow forth, that beg to be written. I honor it all by writing. Write on!
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