Open Door Healing

My mom doesn’t color anymore. Coloring was one of her favorite things to do and up until 3 years ago, I would go usually once a month to her house and color with her. We would share wine, snacks, have wonderful conversations and color. It has been about six months since we last colored, and I noticed that she was having trouble picking out a color, which in itself was no big deal because she is a perfectionist and always wanted her pages to look “just so”, but this was different. In the two hours I was there, she colored a 1/4 of page. For awhile she had her coloring stuff out on her table, but she put that away, and I have found that once she puts something away in her pantry, it really doesn’t come out again. Just another thing that has been taken away from her by her dementia and Alzheimer’s. I have struggled with which is easier, for lack of a better word, having someone you love die in their sleep unexpectedly, or watching someone you love go through a slow death of cancer, Alzheimer’s or any other disease. I’ve had both. I had bought my mother a coloring book awhile back and I told her she couldn’t die until all the pages were colored. I don’t see that getting done now. And my heart breaks for her, for me and for all those who are going through anything like this. Blessings. (circa 7/9/2023)