Every April writers and bloggers come together to take up the Blogging From A-Z Challenge. This year I am taking up the challenge, too, along with this annually growing group.
I wish to thank my writer friends who have nudged, nay, gently pushed me, persistently encouraging me to take up this daily writing challenge. Each day we write a blog post themed on a letter of the alphabet, beginning with the letter A on April 1, continuing to the letter B on April 2, the letter C on April 3 and so on. We take Sundays off.
This year, via the prodding of friends, I have chosen to revisit and write on a theme throughout: Dementia — my experiences as sole caregiver to my mother, Emma, whom, for a decade, I watched slowly slip into insensibility. So, each day this April, I shall tell you how I, the once contented bohemian writer, the lazing lion in the sun, now confronted with yet another issue — Oh, no, NOW what’s she doing? What was that crash?! — one I had no idea how to handle, had to spring into action, do something and learn to become the lion at the gate.
I hope you will accompany me throughout this journey, laugh a little, cry a little, simply like my stories and gain some insight into caregiving for a loved one with dementia, or any illness, at home. You know, the scary thing is that if you are not now a caregiver, the odds are you will be, and, later, who will serve as your caregiver? Somehow, I have faith we will get through this thing together.
Samantha Mozart
For some reason the images no longer show here, but when you click on the question mark, it links to my books on Amazon.
Hello Samantha, Today is a long day as I write 11:58 pm in Michigan, USA. I read your comments in Susan’s blog —what a dynamic day! At first I was intending to inquire about your experience with Chopin’s PNO CTO in E Minor that somehow crept into Susan’s blog. Now I see more fantastic things about you, including your dedication and special purpose reactive to your important experiences – – -that you are sharing with the world. Congratulations, & thanks for your comments about me in Susan’s blog today. My email address is in your file at this post, but I will write it here. Feel free to contact me. JOERUBIN27425@gmail.com
Hi Joe — I am very glad to hear from you. It looks like we have some common interests. After you mentioned Chopin’s E minor piano concerto, I wrote my next A-Z post listening to the adagio movement. I write to music nearly always. In fact, I used to have an mp3 player on my blog sidebar, before my website crashed, and some of my earlier posts have soundtracks. When I finish writing my A-Zs, I will try to restore the player. I’ve loved classical music all my life and as I age and when I write I listen to that more than any other genre, mostly (except that right now Leon Russell is singing “A Song for You”). 🙂
Yes, re my experience with my mother, it IS all in how you react, isn’t it, rather than sobbing over what awful thing has befallen me now. I regard such situations as spiritual growth opportunities — although, naturally, I might not regard them as such at first, and I probably miss too many. Nonetheless, I am sharing my caregiving experiences with the world because a) I love to write, b) it is both a catharsis and a way to gain inner insight and awareness, and c) I hope my sharing my experiences will help and comfort others.
I will email you, Joe, than you will have my email address. You should know that Samantha Mozart is my pen name, so my email to you will come from a different name.