I had been given the most wonderful gift of my life when I was blessed with my mothers' care during her trip through Alzheimers. It was a fast trip to the part of Alzheimers where she could no longer care for herself since she had a stroke that  also affected her brain.  My mother was a single mom with three girls to take care of after my father left.  She always made sure we had a good clean home and new clothes at the start of school every year. My sisters were 7 and 10 years older than I. So from the time I was 12....it was always just Mom and I. We became best friends, always doing everything together, and even lived next door to each other. In the early 70's we even had a business together. It was a Ceramic Shop and while I taught the students, my mother took the chance to teach them to fix Christmas candy. She had about as many students as I did!  Then in the middle 80's I started to notice little things she would never have forgotten before....like where she  parked her car, or where we lived. Her house was always immaculate, but she started letting things go. And then when she fell and broke her hip and was put in the hospital....she went totally off the charts while she was in the hospital. They even had to restrain her in bed. It broke my heart to see her that way, but when I brought her home to familiar surroundings....she was "Mom" again. She did continue to go down hill until I had to move her in with me and hire a girl to take care of her while I worked. She would see her parents sitting beside me or hear strange noises (thinking a stranger broke in). I had a hospital bed put in my room for her and eventually had to restrain her at night since she would get up and roam around the house and try to get outside. She finally gave up the fight in 1991 at home with the love of two of her daughters surrounding her. My oldest sister passed away in 1990 of cancer.

Since then I have had people say things to me like "Oh, you poor thing....having to care for your mother like that for 6 years". I tell everyone the same thing...." it was never a burden but a true blessing to be able to take care of her and. I would do it again 100 times over if I could."  The thought of a nursing home never entered my mind. She was and always will be my special angel.

I only have one child, a daughter who has made it very clear that she could never do that if I ever got to the point of being unable to care for myself. I understand many people couldn't do it, but I am so very glad I was able to.