Many times my mom sat by my bed when I didn’t feel well.  She took my temperature, put cool cloths on my forehead, read and sang to me.  When I was feeling better, but still too ill to attend school, I lay on the couch in our farmhouse kitchen while Mother worked, but was near.

Then our roles were reversed, and I cared for Mother as she developed Alzheimer’s.  I remember sitting beside her bed in the nursing home after she broke her hip.  Mother seemed to become very depressed at that time and was confused about many things . As I sat …read more