As Alzheimer's robs my mother of some fantastic memories, I try my best to help her retain them, and thus retain a piece of who she is and how she is extremely valued and loved. Many times I remind her of the wonderful things she did, sometime with just momentary retention, but she seems to brighten up and show that wonderful glorious smile of hers. Not a day goes by, when I visit her that I don't say, "I am so lucky to have you for a mom, you know I love you very much!", and she'll respond one of two ways; "I love you too dear", or "Oh, are you my daughter?" Either way, I hope she feels the warmth back from what she has given to me. She has given the best gift to me; the gift of understanding the importance of selfless giving and the overwhelming inner peace and joy received from helping another out!
With that said, I thought I'd share the video I recently made for her. The specific music chosen are favorites of my mothers, especially Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. When I showed her, my sister and I had tears streaming down our faces. This only confused my mom, as she wondered why this would make us cry. So lesson learned, a pre-screening for my sister, father and I!!
