Tag Archives: dementia

Decade

As 2019 comes to an end, it seems like a good time to look back at the last decade. While mathematically, the new decade doesn’t start until next January, it is the start of the 2020s and many, if not … Continue reading

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Silver Anniversary

In May of 1991 I had just moved back to Madison, Wisconsin after four years in Denver, Colorado. Denver was beautiful and I loved it and had made many friends there, but it was never home. I had also recently … Continue reading

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My Cousin is a Duck, and I Am Loved

Some days when I visit my mother she thinks I’m her brother or someone else. Most of the time she knows who I am, but not always. Going to visit can be saddening or it can bring me joy–I never … Continue reading

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Maybe the Best Christmas Present Ever

Even as a little boy Christmas for me was never mostly about the gifts and the commercialism that mark the season in this country. As a child in a strict Irish-Catholic family it was about the celebration of the birth … Continue reading

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Northern Lights and Smiles

Several years ago I was driving back to Madison from my hometown of Shullsburg, Wisconsin in the southwestern corner of the state. It was winter and as I was driving I suddenly noticed incredible colored lights in the sky, shifting … Continue reading

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Conversation

Yesterday my mother was both lucid and unintelligible, moving back and forth between a woman who seemed to perfectly understand the world around her and another person who looked around not even sure of where she was. She was older … Continue reading

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On Becoming an Orphan

Little boys can have all sorts of unimaginable fears. There can be monsters in the closet or under the bed, temptations of the devil, bullies on the street, bad guys in general, even the horrors of spinach or other foods … Continue reading

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