Homemade Lemonade, Memories & Alzheimer’s
July 25, 2007 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
As I read Kristen King’s post, Traditional Summer Refreshment: Homemade Iced Tea, at Lively Women, and her reminiscenses of her mother making this brew, I also recalled my mom making homemade refreshing beverages on hot summer days. I grew up on a farm, long enough ago that soda pop was a rare treat.
So Mother made our refreshments. These consisted of iced tea, lemonade, and mint tea. Sometimes she combined the tea and lemon juice, then added a spring of mint. The mint grew along the brook that ran behind our farmhouse and across the pasture. We children were assigned the task of picking mint that Mother would steep in the hot tea.
After Mother developed Alzheimer’s, she still enjoyed iced tea and lemonade as her afternoon beverage at home and later at the nursing home. These weren’t homemade, and I don’t know if these refreshing drinks brought back memories.
But I like to think they gave her pleasure in her Alzheimer’s world. Perhaps she was back in time to the days when her children gathered mint leaves and carried them to her in tightly clenched hands, “Here, Mama. Make us mint tea today!” Then they gathered around the kitchen table and shared mint tea or lemonade with cookies.
Hi, Mary Emma,
Thanks for the link. This is a beautiful post. :]
Kristen
Thanks, Kristen, for stopping by and commenting. Your post about homemade iced tea brought back so many memories. I couldn’t not write about them!
I have a funny story to share (it’s in my book, MOTHERING MOTHER). The older my mother got, and the further into Alzheimer’s, the more honest (uninhibited) she got.
She loved Sprite–in a cold can–with a straw.
I gave her one, and her face contorted, her eyes watered and she slammed her hand down on the table.
“That’s strong! She said, “It takes like cat pee.”
I laughed and asked,
“How do you know what cat pee tastes like?”
We both laughed. She kept tearing, contorting, slamming her hand down–and drinking her Sprite.
So now, my mother has passed, but I never look at Sprite can and not hear a little cat meow.
~Carol D. O’Dell
author of MOTHERING MOTHER: A Daughter’s Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir, available on Amazon and in most bookstores
Carol,
Thank you for visiting Alzheimer’s Notes and sharing your story. I’m so pleased family members feel they can share the sad and the humorous…and see humor in some of the situations they and their loved ones face. When I was caring for Mother and Auntie…and then wrote my book, people didn’t want to be so open about their family members. I visited your web site and am impressed. Continue doing your good work by encouraging other caregivers…and those who have been through it but still need reinforcement during the times of emptyness (or empty nest).