The big family meeting, and a future move

I've dreaded posting. We have been going through a tremendous change here, and I have struggled repeatedly how to share it. I have several drafts started. I wonder if I'll even post this.  Well, I need to start somewhere, eh? So, let's go...

I wrote here in November that my husband and I want to move to Peru, to retire next summer. When I started caring for my mother here almost five years ago, I didn't dream it would last so long, and hadn't anticipated this day. Still, it arrived.

My brother and sister came here over the holidays, and we had a family meeting, with Mom. I told her I am leaving early summer for Peru. She had about ten seconds where she looked shocked and a tiny bit emotional, then quietly listened. My brother held her hand as he talked about what he offered - to have her live in his home with him and his wife. My sister talked about how she would like to have Mom in an assisted living home there, though her own health (advanced rheumatoid arthritis) and job and climate make it less than ideal. We said my daughter offered to have her in Wisconsin. So, as of the end of the meeting, she was - shockingly! - accepting of moving to the Southwest with my brother.

I was flabbergasted.  When I expect graciousness, she is negative. When I expect ugliness and pleading and negativity, like with this move, she is lovely and accepting.  Wow.

She has continued to be (mostly) OK in our visits since then. Since I had been talking about Peru, she knew it was a deep desire of ours, and a strong intention - she just now learned the "when".  I am still dumbfounded that she hasn't begged or pushed back yet.

She is anxious about little things.  Getting on the plane - that is, physically stepping onto the plane from the jetway. Will she get lost in my brother's house. Who will dress her in the mornings. OK, those aren't really little things - but they show she is thinking through her life, how it will be, and I think that is excellent.

We've had some vacillations, though.  My brother called one day to tell me he was having "second thoughts".  This was extremely frustrating, since Mom was now counting on this option. It is understandable that he would be concerned about the impact on his family - but BOY do I wish he had thought about that PRIOR to making this offer (and being the big hero of the family meeting). (I think he has come back on track to offer to have her there with/near him.)  Also, Mom has had some time when she thought maybe she could just stay in the assisted living home where she lives - but we talked about the extreme loneliness and the importance of having a health-care advocate who is local (among other things).

It has raised some family issues, however. I am the one with Power of Attorney for legal matters, as well as the co-trustee, which means I have the purse strings. I will need to make financial arrangements to ensure my brother has funds to care for Mom - but he strongly strongly wants to have the controls passed to him. Unfortunately (?), we can't make changes now, since Mom has a diagnosis of dementia. He feels belittled and out of control, which I guess I understand, but he needs to learn to trust that it will be OK. We will devise some strategies to make sure he is very well funded to handle her needs.

I am deeply grateful for the willingness of him and his wife to do this. It's a huge deal - whether she is in the house especially, or even to have her in a nearby facility.

I am also tremendously relieved that I have an end-date in sight, so we can start this new chapter in our lives.

Of course, Mom finishes each chat with comments about how this may not even happen, that she eagerly hopes she dies before this comes to pass.  She continues to be ready and hoping for her life to end, the sooner the better.  And I say, yes, Mom, that's true.  Let's see.

Rinse and repeat.

So, the subtitle of this blog says that this will focus on what Mom's care does to her, but also to me, and to my relationship with my family and siblings. 

I've started several posts, and abandoned them.  They were just rehash of where I've been before, what I've said before.  Nothing new, nothing insightful, nothing really very interesting.  

But I guess that's the point of exactly where I am in this place of caring for Mom.  Yes, I have some adrenaline surging about the poor care in her soon-to-be-former home, and some planning and project-management skills surging in looking for the new place.  Many sleepless nights as my mind obsesses about Mom - last night, I couldn't sleep because of thinking about what we'll do for a dresser for her.  (Silly, eh?) So, there are some recent variations in Groundhog Day. 

But, overall, this is still just 'Rinse. Repeat."  (Which is basically the punchline of, "Why did they find the blonde dead, lying in the shower after a week, clutching a bottle of shampoo?  The shampoo bottle said, Shampoo. Rinse, Repeat.)   

In this blog, I could repeat old themes:  My sister has been great.  My brother does not seem to be very engaged.  I am hungry for my next adventure.  I am honored to have the role of supporting someone approaching death. I have grown ... though sometimes reluctantly.  Same themes.  Same posts.  Same same same same. 

Rinse and repeat. 

Rinse and repeat.