I’d like to introduce you to my mother. Not the woman I am sitting one foot away from in a Connecticut hospital bed, the skin on her hands as fragile as phyllo dough, the veins showing livid purple and the blue-green of old tattoos. Though it is true, her hands have always been this way.
Nancy, that was so beautifully written. You have a way of putting words on paper that are so expressive and compassionate.
My late mother died 15 years ago after breaking her hip, but she had suffered from multi-infarct dementia for many years. Your article made me look at it from two points of view. One, as a son, and another as the parent, since I am 74 and wonder what the future will bring to Leslie and I. Fortunately we have 3 daughters who are devoted to their parents, and one who has already prepared her house for us to live in if that is necessary.
Wow Nancy, so many echoes of my mother in there. She died in November 2022 after a long steady decline after breaking her hip. Sorry you’re going through this … circle of life ❤️.
It was hard to reconcile the woman who died in her home from the stained glass artist who bounced “Bobby DeNiro” (Jr. - his father was a tortured artist who never attained the fame of classmates Ruth Asawa or Robert Rauschenberg) on her knee when she graduated from the long-gone, but renowned Black Mountain College in the hills of North Carolina.
The woman who gave up driving in 1962 because it was too distracting, and was Josef Albers’ protege and lived a far more interesting life than I could ever hope.
Nancy, thank you for this. I know that the number of good years left with my 80 year old parents are much, much less than the number that have gone before. And I dread it. But, so far so good and I’m forever thankful for that.
Nancy, that was so beautifully written. You have a way of putting words on paper that are so expressive and compassionate.
My late mother died 15 years ago after breaking her hip, but she had suffered from multi-infarct dementia for many years. Your article made me look at it from two points of view. One, as a son, and another as the parent, since I am 74 and wonder what the future will bring to Leslie and I. Fortunately we have 3 daughters who are devoted to their parents, and one who has already prepared her house for us to live in if that is necessary.
Thank you.
xxx
Thank you for this loving, honest description.
Big hug Nancy. & what beautiful pictures!
"Is there enough?"
I think so, Mom. Love you.
Hugs, Nancy. Like life, it's hard sometimes. Been there.
Wow. And I’ve been there with my mother, both of us trying to stay afloat and navigate so many of the moments you describe. Strength. Peace. Love. ❤️
Wow Nancy, so many echoes of my mother in there. She died in November 2022 after a long steady decline after breaking her hip. Sorry you’re going through this … circle of life ❤️.
It is so hard watching our parents age.
I lost my mother 3 years ago at 98.
It was hard to reconcile the woman who died in her home from the stained glass artist who bounced “Bobby DeNiro” (Jr. - his father was a tortured artist who never attained the fame of classmates Ruth Asawa or Robert Rauschenberg) on her knee when she graduated from the long-gone, but renowned Black Mountain College in the hills of North Carolina.
The woman who gave up driving in 1962 because it was too distracting, and was Josef Albers’ protege and lived a far more interesting life than I could ever hope.
I am without real words but these.
Nancy, thank you for this. I know that the number of good years left with my 80 year old parents are much, much less than the number that have gone before. And I dread it. But, so far so good and I’m forever thankful for that.
Yes and no. It is always yes and no.
xxoo