I've been out of the loop the last few days. We celebrated the 7th anniversary of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (my last post). Then on Monday, we traveled to Dallas for that dreaded event - moving my dad into an Alzheimer's Care Facility. We did that on Tuesday. Fortunately, the entire experience was covered in peace. I think my mom was so overwhelmed by it all that she just didn't know what to do, so she seemed to just watch. In some ways, she was just a distant observer - not really believing this was happening to her and her husband of almost 64 years. A couple of times my dad said, "I don't want to stay here." That was expected, but overall, he was cooperative and peaceful.
As soon as we got my dad settled, my sister and brother-in-law rushed Debbie and me back to Love Field so we could catch our flight back to Kansas City. We arrived in time to rush back to the House of Prayer's final moments of celebration on Tuesday evening. That night, we fell into bed exhausted -- physically and emotionally spent.
All day Wednesday, I "crammed" to teach my inductive Bible study class. Following class, I arrived home about 9:30 and called my sister in Dallas to see how the first real day of separation had gone. She was a bit distressed. Apparently, after we all left my dad on Tuesday, he stayed up until 2 am telling the care givers that we (all his family) were still out in the parking lot waiting on him and that it was just not right that we were having to wait that long in the hot sun. Finally, they convinced him that we were not in the parking lot and he went to bed. Wednesday morning, he got up and ate a good breakfast and made it through the day quite well.
Mom, on the other hand did not fare quite as well. She seems to think that Dad doesn't need to be in "that place" and she tried to convince my sisters to bring him home. She settled down a bit by bed time Wednesday, but we realize that the adjustment will take some time.
It is now time for me to re-engage and get back to the "discipline of blogging." I'm sure that somewhere in the Bible that is listed as a spiritual discipline.
5 comments:
Would you consider that Paul was blogging from prison?
It's really tough to see your parents grow old and frail. Especially when you remember them to be so strong and always just... there. You have switched roles; you now make decisions as to what's best for them, just like they did for you when you weren't able to make right decisions yet. Be as strong for them as they were for you, knowing that you have their best interests at heart just as they did then.
Words of wisdom and encouragement, Esther; thank you so much!
Tom,
I have no words of wisdom, but can only say that reading about your Mom and Dad makes my heart hurt. I think sometimes it helps just to know that others hear and try to understand and just . . . I have no words.
Jerry
Thanks Jerry!
Hi Tom
Even tho I'm only 18 I face the fact that my parents are much older than most... most people my age have parents aged between 40 and 50... my mum is turning 60 in december, and my dad is 72 in november. it's kind of weird knowing that they're not likely to still be around when i'm older.
but the same thing happened with my grandparents a few years ago - they lived in England, and Mum was over there visiting, as she was driving up towards Leeds grandpa had a stroke, and Granny had a minor one a few days later. The result was that they had to be split up as well... Grandad moved into a retirement-care facility, and Granny moved into a supervised flat in another location... the hardest thing for Mum was having to come back to New Zealand after being there for 3 months, and knowing that without her there, they wouldn't see each other as much, and she wasn't there with them.
There's great comfort in the fact that He promises never to leave or forsake us...
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