A Daughter's Stories About an Aging Parent: Sharing Tips & Facts Learned Along The Way
I was online one morning, when I came across an interesting article titled “Handling Controlling Elderly Parents.” “Ha!” I thought half-jokingly. “Here’s my breakthrough guide to fix all of my control issues with my 89-year-old mother Ginny.” Very quickly, however, I wasn’t laughing. I was thinking. Hard. With some parents, an overly critical, authoritarian parenting…
This story begins three years ago, when my then 86-year-old mother Ginny called, quite excited. “Have you seen anything on the news?” “About what exactly mom?” I respond. “Well, I think I’m a finalist and will win a lot of money!” she shared. “What are you talking about? What money?” I ask, my heart beating…
Read more How Do You Control the Spending Habits of an Aging Parent?
In my last story, I shared how my mother Ginny’s best friend had given her an unexpected inheritance gift. She should be receiving that gift soon, and we remain grateful. It’s important, however, that we are responsible about how to manage the gift and dig into information regarding cash assets and how they relate, in…
Read more Figuring Out VA Benefits and an Inheritance: Our Story
I remain in a funny place after returning from Ann’s service in Minneapolis. Ann was my mother Ginny’s oldest friend who had recently passed. (Here is a link to that story. In an unexpected development, this is Part 2.) As I had mentioned, the service and weekend spent with her family had held many emotional…
As my blog often confirms, life is complicated, funny and always full of surprises. These past few days have been no exception. As a resident living on the east coast of Florida, I have been distracted as well as knee-deep in preparations for Hurricane Dorian. I had hoped to start the first week of September…
I have muddled feelings this morning. I woke just before 6:00 a.m. with a startled shake. I had just dreamt that I was simultaneously looking for and hiding from my mother because she had a gun. We were at some huge outdoor event. I kept running into people I knew and telling them what was…
This post is a little different as I’m stepping outside of the larger story to move my legs a bit and share my hopeful intent. As you’ve read, I am living day-to-day with helping my elderly mom. I’m definitely in the thick of it. Somewhere in there, I wanted to write it down. It started…
Ginny has a friend named Lois who has been in her condo complex for 25 years. Lois knows people. She had been on the board for many years and has always been a source of information for mom. They used to go to lunch and local plays together. They weren’t best friends, but she has…
Ginny called today. I should lay out the back story first. It begins about three years ago. She had a young woman named Carly as a next-door neighbor. Carly had a boyfriend who often stayed with her. Apparently, they would occasionally play music late at night which woke her up. Since sleep is a huge…
My husband Dennis and I are just completing a 3-day visit with my 88-year-old mother Ginny when she receives a notice from the cable company. They are converting their signal to digital for all Florida customers and her zip code is next. Apparently, she will need different converter boxes to pick up that new signal.…
