November 1, 1916 ~ April 3, 2014
If you want to read the whole story from beginning to end.you have to go to the beginning. Read the first Blog post. Blogs are posted in reverse order.
My “Kansas City Here I Come” began in November 2011 just a few days after Thanksgiving. I received an alarming call from Mom’s good friends and neighbors, Dean and Martha. Mom was in the hospital and there wasn’t much information about what had happened. In my mind I knew I was already on my way to Kansas to be with her. Our mother daughter roles changed and I now I was responsible for what was best for Mom. In the next two years my trips from California to Kansas became a regular commute. With each trip I stayed in Kansas a little longer and our connection grew deeper than I had ever imagined. In my mother’s own words “We lived each day and lived it well”
Out of the blue — I got “the call” in the afternoon from mom’s neighbor, Dean, telling me that mom was in the hospital. I didn’t really know “What had happened?” but flew to Kansas and stayed for a little over two months while mom recovered. A new chapter had begun for our family. Mom stayed in the hospital for six days and treated for “extreme exhaustion and dehydration”. The first week she was finally home was a new and scary experience for me. I am not a nurse and have never been a “mom” but now, I had to take over. Mom had two months of Physical & Occupational therapy and she responded very well. Good news! She was also assigned a visiting home nurse to check-in on a weekly basis for three months. This gave me great peace of mind. All of these home-visits provided an awareness for mom to finally begin to accept some help and to realize she needed it. We set up new routines around the house that were more suited for a 96 year old to safely live alone. Since dad’s death, mom has insisted on maintaining her household on her own and I believe this deep need for independence kept her strong, positive and healthy. However, the time had come for her to accept assistance if she was going to stay alone in her own home — even though she resisted it.
At the end of January 2012 I briefly returned to California. The first two months of recovery time I had spent with mom will always be a special memory of a precious time we were able to share ♥ I will always be grateful for my friends and family who continued to bring out the very best in me even though I was so far away and for mom’s amazing neighbors and friends who continued to be available.
I started this blog/website a way for me to easily inform friends and family members how Mom was getting along. I didn’t have to keep a mental record of who knew what and if what they last heard from me was still the latest. I was already realizing how fast “the latest” changed. By writing in the blog I knew everyone could be updated with the latest changes. Each day brought new circumstances and future possibilities. The blog also provided a base for me to reflect as I grew more connected to Mom and her care. I felt a growing need to record what was happening or just try to explain things to myself. It kept us all on the same page. I had no idea the blogging was going to go on for so long and that in the end it would recite one of the richest chapters of my life.
Mom 1934
Looking back it’s interesting that Mom never once read the blog. She didn’t even realize I was photographing her most of the time. People loved and appreciated the blog and talked to her about it. She really had no idea what a blog was!
If you want to read the whole story from beginning to end.you have to go to the beginning. Read the first Blog post. Blogs are posted in reverse order.