Finding happiness in the little things is something that I work at. It doesn’t necessarily come naturally when it relates to Mom. It is fleeting and precious and unpredictable. When we went out to dinner for my birthday this past Sunday, Mom wasn’t with us. My brother Simon briefly contemplated the idea of signing her out of the home and bringing her along, but we knew she wouldn’t be able to negotiate the experience. Think about it. Restaurants are often dimly lit at night t

What lengths should we go to keep our loved ones safe? What are the limits of kindness? I locked Mom in her house today. This after Mom attacked me. I am still trying to process our physical scuffle. I thought we were being cruel by administering her anti psychotic meds. It made her drowsy and slow, reduced her gait to a shuffle, and seemed to fuel her delusional ramblings. Now, after reducing the dose to the minimum, I see how much she needs it. Yes, without it she has more

A door is a metaphor for so many aspects of life. Doors that open to opportunity, hope, an invitation, new beginnings, other worlds. There are doors to the outside, doors to the inside, doors into even more enclosed spaces. There’s that lovely quote from The Sound of Music: “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” And let’s not forget Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception. We move physically and figuratively from one place to another through door after do