Here we are, New Year’s Day 2015, a new year for all, bearing new possibilities with every day. A fresh start with new hopes and dreams set forth into the months to come…New Year’s resolutions. I have to say, that I am more than happy to say goodbye to 2014 than any other year that I can remember, not that I wouldn’t want to go back a year when Mom’s struggles weren’t so serious. Maybe, I could have been more aware of what was to come and been more present…the shouldda’s, couldda’s, wouldda’s. But we can’t do that, we can only hold on to the good memories, knowing that we did the best we could under the circumstances, which is what I choose to do where my Mother is concerned. I was lucky to have had her in my life for the 6 years that she lived with me here, even with the struggles, which never would have happened if she hadn’t been sick with Dementia and needed my help.

Photos Above: (1) Eleanor Sarter (Mom) and Lynn, sporting a similar haircut to Mom in her childhood years, sitting on the stone wall in Greenwood Lake, 1957, (2) A blurred, blue, photo of Mom sitting on her Mother’s back stairs looking very young and carefree in her flowy dress. Wonder what she was thinking about?
Photos  Below: (3) Eleanor Sarter (Mom) with Lynn on bench in Greenwood Lake at her Aunt’s house, (4) Newspaper clipping from years ago that Her Mother found meaningful. It was about your thoughts, somewhat similar to my last post of “A Man Thinketh”. Keeping that train of thought alive. Words to live by!

This dreaded disease of dementia shouldn’t define your loved one. It’s not who they were and not what they should be remembered by….it was their bad fortune to have been afflicted with it, but it didn’t define their life. I might say the same about the other diseases that Mom picked up along the way such as Parkinson’s disease and Leukemia…or any disease for that matter. No disease should define someone…we all are who we are and have accomplished great things in our life time, making wonderful memories, none of which include disease. Bask in the memories, the good stuff that they left behind! It’s all we have now.

Today, on this first day of 2015, I am reflecting the past year…and also thinking about how I can put my projects into action. Projects that have been in my mind for a few years now, but never really having time to start. You’d think that with Mom gone, I’d have more free time, but for some reason, I almost feel like I have less time…but do I really? When I look at some of the things that need to be done weekly, I can see a lot of my personal time is spent on busy work, which is exactly what everyone else I speak to says. Of course being gone from the house 12 hours a day to be at work doesn’t help my cause. That’s crazy nuts! I know that someday that will change, because we can’t work forever, but I sure would like to get my projects into action before that happens. Perseverance…little by little….step by step…inch by inch…it’s all cumulative! Just Do It!