Dorothy and Umbrella, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.
Photo # 24 Dorothy and Umbrella
This little girl with her umbrella makes me smile each time
I look at it. It is a reminder to me that I should try to remember when my
mother could smile and be happy.
The last year of my mother's life was as confusing as her
own mind. No one knew what to do. I knew she was having trouble when she took
the photos off their places in the living room and put them in my (now desceased) Dad's chair. She told a
neighbor that she wasn't lonely since the "girls" were there to visit and watch
TV with her. The "girls" were the photos not real people.
Her mind was fading. Things I passed off as "just my mother being weird" could no longer be ignored.
Her mind was fading. Things I passed off as "just my mother being weird" could no longer be ignored.
I removed this little photo from the photo album that was
black paper inside (You know the kind with the pasted on photo corners?) and
smuggled it into the new photo box that I bought for she and I to work on
together.
In retrospect, I wish I'd just been brave enough to remove the
whole album from her house for safekeeping. You see she threw it out along with
my baby book, her baby book and my grandmother's baby book. She was angry with
me. I wasn't moving "home" to take care of her as she planned. She
took in her mother and I was supposed to do the same. I wasn't following the
rules. She lived in the past.
That spring she got pneumonia and began to hallucinate. They
admitted her to the hospital. She only lasted two months in the rehab center.
She wasn't going "home" anyway. I let her go.
I try to remember her smiling by looking at this photo.
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1 comment:
Hi Midge, Wish it was not so but I too, went through very similar with my late mom who passed at 92. I took care of her until the last two months she lived. Your mother's smiling face is an excellent way to remember her. She likely would be happy about your tribute.
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