So.....going to see my mother

On the way back from CREDO, I'm stopping in Disney City to see my mother.

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit how long it has been since I've seen my mother...eight years. There, I said it. The biggest reason is that I live at one end of the east coast, and she lives at the other. Or maybe that's the second biggest reason; the real biggest reason is that we don't get along all that well. (See this post ....and this one...for details).

Ever since my mother moved into assisted living, our interactions have been brief. When I call her, she only wants to stay on the phone for a few minutes--just long enough to say that we're both doing fine, and the kids are all fine and then she says she has to go. On the plus side she sounds reasonably content to be where she is--in assisted living and confined to a wheelchair. I sort of think that they must have her on some good drugs. Dunno. And there are no arguments. But it also feels like I'm talking with a casual acquaintance, not my mother.

Apparently what I didn't realize is that my mother has some dementia going on. When I emailed my sister to tell her that I was coming, she was very surprised because my mother not only didn't remember that, she didn't even remember that she'd talked with me.

So the mother I'll be visiting is not the mother I last saw. I'm not really sure what to expect. I know it will be sad on some level. I just hope it is not contentious.