I went with my parents to visit my great aunt ( my dad's aunt) ...we try and visit her at least once a month but since we had gotten word that her health had deteriorated even more...more to the point of needing to be moved to an assisted long term care living facility, we decided to make the trip....

i love my aunt BerthaLee...my aunt BerthaLee and I have a love/hate relationship...she was quick to tell me that I was a Price (my maiden name) and that I was 'too pretty to be so chunky'....a couple times she would like something I was wearing and swear up and down that I 'stole her sh*t' and that I needed to 'take my a$$ upstairs and put it back'...how can I love someone that ornery???


because the first time I went to see her after i had Okoye, she held him and looked at me and told me that she knew i was going to be a good mother 'because souls like yours....are TOO damn special to just keep...they have to be shared so baby you HAD to become a momma'.

Well now she is in the 7th stage of Alzheimer's....the mind can be an amazing thing but it is complex...so very complex.

they say that the brain has to be exercised...that the more it is, the more dementia has a harder time developing; doesnt stop it but slows it down. my aunt was a teacher (yes as gruff as she was) ...matter of fact, her roommate and 3 other patients in her wing ALONE were teachers and they, too , are in the final stage of Alzheimer's...

teaching...ummm you cant get any more exercised than that

its hard to see her...when we first got there Aunt BerthaLee wouldnt look up to us...she would look out of the corner of her eye...by the the time we got ready to leave she was raising her eyes, was more focused....her face had a slight contortion to it but before we left there was almost a...smooth peaceful look....her forehead was so smooth. she even began to 'talk' which...was garbled and very hard to understand but at least she was trying. she loved to hold hands...when we got ready to leave i was crouched down by her feet and i told her that i would be back soon...she grabbed hold to both of my hands really tight and started to bear down...like she was trying to get up...when i laughed and said she couldnt go, I SWEAR ya'll....she threw my hands down almost in... disgust!

Its Mother's Day this weekend...and yes, we should celebrate our mothers every freakin' day of the year but this year....celebrate it even more. i know there are people out there who dont have their mothers any more and some who have a former shell of their mothers with them. my cousin sits with her mother, who is my aunt BerthaLee every day. after working a night shift she goes directly to the home and just sits there, holds her hands and they watch old black and white movies. if my memory of aunt BerthaLee, the way she WAS brings tears to my eyes, I cant IMAGINE what her daughter is going through....

to not be able to ask my mother for advice....to walk with my mother....to not hear my mothers voice...to not hear her say the words 'I love you'....to not hear her laughter....and to wonder if she even recognizes me....no child, young or old, should have to feel that kind of pain...

so if you can...if you are able please do those things with your mother ....laugh with her...talk to her...ask her for advice and t look HER in the eye and just to say 'I love you'

Happy Mother's Day all.....