My Husband Helped Me Grow Up Yesterday

It isn't like he hasn't done it a million times in the last twenty-two years, but yesterday he did it again. Mrangelmeg and I went to a Lawyer's office with my mom and started the paperwork to become her legal representatives in all matters pertaining to her decisionmaking as she enters this final scary journey and descent into Alzhiemer's disease. When she asked us if we would be willing to do this for her, my first thought, of course, was how much inconvenience it was going to add to my already overburdened life. It was Mrangelmeg who brought me up short and reminded me that just last week I was totally upset that mom had no idea who I was, and now she was asking me to be the one that she was going to depend on for the rest of her life.

She told him that she chose us because, like her, we are Catholic, and that means a lot to her. She knows that when the time comes we will make decisions about her health and the end of her life based upon our Catholic faith and moral underpinnings. This was something she couldn't be sure would be true for some of my brothers and sisters. Mrangelmeg helped me to realize that it really was me, that she was asking, and not someone she had confused with someone else in her mind.

So, we have begun this final journey with my mother. I know that it won't be an easy one. It may be a very long one. But I know that with God's loving providence we will do what God wants to be done every step of the way when it comes to mom's care, so long as we trust in Him and listen to His voice.

Oh, and by the way, having a Catholic Lawyer to handle the paperwork was really a great idea. He really understood what it meant to mom, and we didn't have to explain a lot of things to him that we might have had to to someone else.

Pax