Life with Dementia--Part I: The Beginning of the End
Part I of my attempt to record life with my father in the years when he suffered with dementia and Parkinson's disease. It's a lot to put into thoughts and I've never really done so before. At this point in my life, November brings to mind thoughts of several things: cooler weather, memories of visits from my grandparents , Christmas is coming!, and memories of November 2004 when I knew the family support on which I had so often counted was really disappearing. That November, I received two night-time phone calls. The first one was early in the month, not even two months after Mama had passed away , after I had just put baby Emmeline down for the night. It was my dad and it was odd for him to call me; I usually called him. He sounded very strange. I could tell from his voice that he was smiling and he was a little "giddy," an emotion I had never heard in his voice before. He got right to his point. "What would you think if I got married again?