Tag: snow

Memories, Videos

home is where the heart/h is 2010

My Alzheimer's Story
Mom’s big red brick house on the hill was like a Christmas card in winter.

In 2010 we spent lots of time in the living room by the fire and the tree, which together created as beautiful a country Christmas scene as might be imagined. I built a snow woman, as I did every year when the weather cooperated. This time I piled too much hair too high on her head, and she was soon decapitated by above-freezing temperatures. She couldn’t be repaired, so I transformed her body into a heart that stood steadfast just outside the window long after I returned to Dubai. The birds sometimes perched there before going to the feeder, Mom told me when I called from the other side of the world.

Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Eve we joined friends for dinner and then dancing – in their kitchen. Mom, as always, was the life of the party.

“Blond and red-haired chicks,” the country singer sang.

“Red haired chicks – that’s me,” Mom said to our friend John.

“You were a redhead?” John replied.

“Oh yeah, I was a redhead,” Mom quipped. “One of the wild ones.”

“I should have known,” John said. Then he grabbed her hands and they started to dance.

I hope you’re singing and dancing Mom, wherever you are.

Subscribe to my free updates here.

Life & Living, Memories, Videos

salmon and snowshoes 2009

My Alzheimer's Story

In 2009, I bought myself some snowshoes, and explored the winter field in the back of Mom’s big red brick house on the hill. I created a snowwoman at the front door, and Mom and I got hand-painted mugs for Christmas. We loved those mugs; Mom used hers to share tea with Pia Roma a few days later.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We celebrated the New Year in real Canadian style by barbecuing salmon on the back deck. We rocked. So did the salmon, it was all good. Or at least that’s how it seemed at the time.

https://myalzheimersstory.com/2016/12/28/the-paws-that-refreshes/

https://myalzheimersstory.com/2016/12/20/home-is-where-the-hearth-is-2010/

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */

Subscribe to MAS now & get 5 free PDFs & a page of welcome links:

Email Address

Take my short survey on behaviour here.

Joy, Music, Videos

walking in the winter snow

My Alzheimer's Story

Mom turned 80 on September 27, 2008.

That year, as we had on several previous Christmases, Mom and I attended the nativity celebration in a neighbour’s barn. The live pageant was complete with sheep and donkeys. That same year we created a Christmas Eve video of our winter adventures including walking in the winter wonderland around Mom’s big red brick house on the hill, decorating the tree, sitting by the fire, and doing lots of blowing kisses underneath the mistletoe.

I love love love this video set to the music of Celine Dion; I took all the pics in and around Mom’s place with the exception of the last one of Mom and I (which was taken by our friend Judy) in the barn after the nativity celebration:

https://myalzheimersstory.com/2015/12/23/an-alzheimers-dementia-christmas-story/

https://myalzheimersstory.com/2016/12/16/teepas-top-10-ten-holiday-tips-plus-10-more-from-me/

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */

Subscribe to MAS now & get 5 free PDFs & a page of welcome links:

Email Address

Take my short survey on behaviour here.

Joy, Love, Memories, Music, Videos

10 lessons from pinkie patti and the dancing bear

My Alzheimer's Story

mom-and-dancing-bear-smiling

Flashback: On a bright, crisp, sunny day in February 2012, Mom and I went to a small winter fair “in town.”

There were tents, skating rinks, barbecues, music, and lots of children. Mom loved children. I remember her telling the story of how ducks skate on frozen lakes to my two young cousins when they were little girls. The three of them  snuggled in a big armchair as snow fell outside. They giggled and laughed at the thought  of drakes on skates, slipping and sliding on the icy surface outside.

When we came upon the bear mascot at the winter festival, Mom grabbed his paws and “waltzed” with him to music coming from a nearby tent. As I filmed her leaving his embrace, she  encouraged a pair of little girls to take her place in his arms; they were about the same age my cousins were when she told them about duck Ice Capades. The sheer delight Mom took in dancing and sharing her joy with the children made my heart burst with tenderness and love.

Here are ten lessons I took away that day:

  1. creating space for mom to engage with life was one of the best things I could do for both of us
  2. magic is accessible to everyone, and it’s usually free
  3. hugs and innocence are “ageless” and timeless
  4. small things make a big difference
  5. small things make an EVEN bigger difference when things seems hopeless
  6. dancing bears provide better medicine than many doctors
  7. we are meant to be in community; we belong together
  8. Alzheimer’s is as much a “life sentence” to love and laugh and live right now as it is a death sentence to die some day in the future. Life itself is a death sentence. Why die before we’re dead?
  9. using technology to preserve memories is a smart thing to do
  10. joy is a gift as well as a choice and a reward

Watch the video and see if you agree:

 

Subscribe to my free updates here.