January 2017

January began on a somber note. My Mother passed away in the early morning of January 1st. It was sad but also not good, but not bad, hard to say. Mom had already been battling Alzheimer's dementia for a year and a few months and she had never wanted to linger with a devastating illness like that. It was a hard and fast and confusing time from diagnosis in September 2015-to her passing on January 1st 2017 but finally she was at peace. It was so strange, Mom went for a young for her age, busy, vibrant women to Alzheimer's and a fast decline just like that. It was almost like a switch, there were a few little things over the summer but not long. We made one last trip to the nursing home and then closed that chapter. I was so glad that the kids had some nice visits in her final months and a GOOD visit with her on Thanksgiving 2016, she was amazingly like her old self in some ways. Then for Christmas she was failing but we still spent it at the nursing home and that would be the last time we saw Mom/Grammy alive.  It was HARD to visit so often, we went weekly for quite awhile, and it was a close to 2 hour trip. Later when we found a better nursing home it was closer to 3 hours each way but so thankful we visited a lot. We had no idea that Mom would pass only 15 months post diagnosis. It felt so long but I hope for her it felt mercifully short.

What else for January? Snow, keeping busy, snow, work, snow, co-op, snow, animals, snow.