On Mothers, Fathers and Alzheimers ~ Guest Post by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Totally appreciating the Mother of Pearl

guest blog posts in  this week's

Celebration of Mothers 

anticipating Sunday's US + Canada 

Mother's Day ...

with the crazy 8 hour day I spent at the hospital this Monday

I am delited to allow others to post for me

here at Faith Hope and Cherrytea !
{prayers appreciated! please + thankyou!}

please Welcome and enjoy today's post by Suzanne

on a topic I'm personally caught up in

and one that's brought a new depth of love

and appreciation for my own MoM...

She’s My Everything | Suzanne Woods Fisher

“A mother is one who can take the place of all others, 

but whose place no one else can take.”

--Cardinal Mermillod

Just a few more months. My mother was hoping Dad would hang on long enough so they could celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary in April. But on January 1st, as the sun rose on the new year, my dad’s worn out heart beat its last. Dad had battled Alzheimer’s Disease for ten years. As many of you know, AD is a long, hard journey. Hard on the one afflicted with the disease, hard on the caregivers.

But not without its blessings.

Four years ago, as I began researching stories for Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, my path crossed with a handful of Plain families who were coping with Alzheimer’s. It was just about the point when Dad’s illness was shifting from early to mid stages AD and the timing was a divine accident. I learned so much as I observed the calm acceptance of these families. Rather than waste time shaking a fist at God for allowing this disease to take their loved one, they put their energy into trusting God’s sovereignty. They didn’t deny the difficulties and complications and sadness of Alzheimer’s, but they didn’t dwell on them. “God has a plan,” one woman told me. “He always has a plan.” 

Something else I noticed was how privileged my Amish friends felt about caring for their loved one. Caring for the elderly, they believe, is the time to give back to them.

Source

Those encounters shaped my perspective of Dad’s illness. I started to pay attention to how God provided answers to new wrinkles created by Alzheimer’s, just in time. God may be slow, but He is never late.

I started to cherish special moments or good days with Dad—just as he was at each point in his illness. Not mourning the past, not dreading the future.

I really miss my dad. I miss his scratchy whiskers and the way his eyebrows would wiggle at us, even as words failed him. Yet I have such peace in my heart that he was well loved and well cared for, right to the very end. And as hard as Dad’s end of life has been, it isn’t the end. We will meet again. As the saying goes, “Some may see a hopeless end, but as believers we rejoice in an endless hope.”

There’s a beautiful story that illustrates my parents’ 59-year marriage. This event happened about a year or two ago. My sister had accompanied our mother to the doctor appointment for Dad at the Stanford Memory Clinic.

Dad had declined quite a bit that month. He was weak and lethargic, even to the point of whispering, as if it took too much energy to project his voice. During the doctor's appointment, the doctor told my mother and sister that Dad was now in late stages of Alzheimer's. Dad didn’t have much vocabulary left, but when the doctor asked him who mom was, he whispered something back. The doctor looked at Mom and asked, "Did you hear what he just said?"

Mom shook her head.

"When I asked him who you were, he whispered, 

'She's...my everything.'"

Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother's Day blog series

 - a week long celebration of moms and mothering. 

I hope you'll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother's Day.

AND ... 

do enter the contest for a chance to win 

a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. 

To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} 

 fill out the short form. 

Contest runs 5/6-5/13  

the winner will be announced on 5/14.

 Contest is open to US and Canadian residents.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we're all about. 

In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children 

in the US and around the globe. 

Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother's Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

And to all you MOMS out there, 

Happy Mother's Day!

Get your button here

Tweet