Need a laugh? My wheelchair bound SMom asked my brother to find and pay her AAA membership. (He intends to comply).
She’s approaching 93, and following two breaks and a balance issue …. How could she need a AAA membership?
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Maybe for home insurance or trip tiks?
AAA works if you are the passenger in a car someone else is driving.
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That’s good to know. Currently she is only riding with relatives (my brothers) or medical transport. Mostly medical transport.
If a AAA membership will make her happy, it’s a small price to pay.
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Yes but maybe humorous to observe given the family dynamics. 
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My mom is on week 3 of a hospitalization that seemingly has no end in sight. Her first wedding anniversary without Dad is …Father’s Day, next Sunday. I realized this morning that I am a basket case over all this, for no particular reason, and the effort to not cry at any given random time is wearing me out (I know, crying is okay, but at some point you have to not). We are here with S1 and his new fiancee and I am aware that they are aware that I am not okay, so I am trying even harder (and I know that is counterproductive) but I am just so sad. I wasn’t this sad when he died. Stupid broken heart.
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Sending you virtual hugs and support. That will really be tough.
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Your mother’s health situation is stressful.
It is made worse by unexpected reminders , people, or milestones that may set off waves of grief.
I have experienced similar feelings well after I thought I was done grieving.
It is what it is. It is ok to be sad again. Let it pass like a wave or the weather.
Please rest and take care of yourself. You are allowed to enjoy S1 and fiancee, to look forward.
You are allowed to focus on yourself or others for a day.
Focus on today. I hope you find something or someone to smile about today and to console you.
Many kind and helpful people all around, caregiver support staff or
hospice and grief support counselors, or a friend to help you find your sense of humor or do something to relax and de-stress.
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No advice but
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That sounds really rough. I do hope that you and son/fiance have the opportunity to do something fun and distracting together. Try to feel no guilt over giving yourself a well deserved break.
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Thanks everyone – we did some outside parks and that was very easy, nothing required of me but to open my eyes and look at the pretty things. We all videochatted S2 (who lost his job about a week ago in a downsize; days after he and DiL put down their deposit on a belated honeymoon they couldn’t take 5 yrs ago because she had lost her job in a downsize) and it was good to see all my kids “together”. Today I am flattening all the boxes from their move so that will be nice and constructive. My sibs will check in later with an update on Mom’s progress and our next steps. I also found that posting made me feel better, so thank you again.
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I’m not sure whether this belongs in the bereavement thread, but it’s brought on by my mother dying so maybe …
This weekend, I was with my siblings, one seven years older than me and one eight years older. They seem SO OLD right now. I actually cried (alone) at one point, because I always have thought of my brother as so competent, but it’s like he can’t hold information any more. My sister drove me three hours to a funeral that is NEXT weekend. Ugh. I’m just sad. I don’t want to think of them as on a downhill slide, but I fear that they are.
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I’m right there with you. My sis is 7 years older than me. I never think of her as being old but now that her husband is gone (and all the stress that came with it) I worry about her all the time.
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Your brother is grieving too. There’s a hope that when things are more settled he will sleep better, be sharper.
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That sounds really hard. Do you think it is a situational thing, or has he been slipping right along? It feels like the world is just sliding away from us a little more each day.
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Yes, I do notice some changes in poor short term memory in my loved ones—we are in 60s thru 80s and it’s sad. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it stays manageable.
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Hard to say. He drinks a lot. Could be alcohol-related cognitive decline. His wife often withholds information from him (to be fair, he does the same with her), so for a while I thought that maybe his missteps were because of her parsing of info and not telling him everything he needs to know, but the major mistake dh and I found last week was on paper work he did related to my dad’s estate two years ago. 
And my sister and the date thing … I was totally cool about it, but, geez. I guess this is a bit of being the much-younger baby of the family and thinking my older sibs were right and that I could believe whatever they said. I’m just sad about it. We pulled up to the church, and no one was there so I pulled up the obit, and the date was the 28th, not the 21st. She was so embarrassed. From now on, I’ll know to do my own legwork, just in case.
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Yes, some of the people I am online and somewhat in person friends with are showing some confusing signs. I talk with them and they say one thing. Next time we talk and ask how the thing went they say, no that’s not what i’m focusing on, I never said that. I get whiplash. Now I just let them say what they want and don’t ask them follow up questions on future calls unless they start on the topic. It’s a bit touchy.
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Given that both my parents had/have dementia, I see it everywhere! But seriously, my mother showed tiny, subtle signs, oh, 15 years before she was formally diagnosed.
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