Happy Anniversary and Welcome to the A to Z Challenge 2012

Today is a bittersweet day. Today is the one year anniversary of this blog. I started it last year, with the blessing of my father, as a way for us to deal with my mother's deeper descent into the world of Alzheimer's. It was not intended to make fun of Alzheimer's, as so many incorrectly assume from the title. My father and I often tried to find the humor in life, to help us get through the tough times. We were going to work on this together, sharing stories about my mother and our family. We hoped that by sharing our stories, we would be able to work through some of our conflicting feelings. We also hoped that perhaps we could help others who were in a similar situation.

But Dad never got to post to the blog. I was going home for Spring Break last year, in mid-April, to help Dad continue to get Mom situated in her new home. I was going to offer him some moral support. And I just wanted to be with my family. My sister was also going to fly into town. And I was going to set up Dad so that he could post to the blog anytime he felt like it. But the night before I was to drive home, my father went by ambulance to the hospital. I spoke with him by phone the next day and we made some plans for when my sister and I arrived that evening. By the next morning, he was unconscious, in a medically induced coma, and never came out of it.

Trying to work on this blog without my father to help me, as this was going to be a shared experience, has been tremendously difficult. I never know what to say. I feel like I bring it down more than being an uplifting experience, as it was meant to be. That is why there are only 33 posts thus far. But, I am determined this year to make another go at it.

On my Montessori Writer's Thoughts blog, I am planning on honoring my father's memory. It is my goal this month to do the same for my mother. Only I will do it here. It isn't all going to be about her Alzheimer's. I want to share the wonderful woman my mother was. I hope it helps me continue to process all that is happening to her. And if I can speak to the heart of just one other person in a similar situation, then my job is done.

I wish luck to those of my fellow writers who are also undertaking this task for the month of April. I also wish to thank you for stopping by.