Lickety Glitz with her mother, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2010.
Dad vowed to keep his sweetheart at home and take care of her until the day she died, and my sister and I believed him because he's that kind of man.
As it turns out, he’s also the kind of man to die of pancreatic cancer. Suddenly. With little time for us to do anything except promise him that we would take up the baton and continue the race.
So, it’s been a year-and-a-half of marathoning with Mom and her dementia, and while she's busy forgetting most of what she knew, we're learning a thing or two about the hilarity of accepting the unacceptable, about teamwork between two very different sisters, about care giving tips and tricks, and about finding friends in unlikely places.
When Mom met the 'mirror lady'
Lickety Glitz's mum and the mirror lady.
The first time I saw Mom with her new "friend" was about six months ago. I poked my head outside the kitchen doorway and saw her in front of the hallway mirror. 'Mom, dinner!' I said cheerily.
She turned to me, then turned to the mirror, 'Come on,' she coaxed. A pause. 'Aren't you coming?' she asked the mirror, then turned back to me, shrugged, and said, 'She won't come.' Well, okay then!
In the time since, Mom has developed quite a friendship with the mirror lady. The hallway mirror is on the door of the linen closet.
