Whew

Whew, it was a BIG day today. I dragged myself off to the Alzheimer’s conference feeling rather reluctant and blue. It was mostly professionals that work in the field but also some of us family members. Of course it was 90 percent women. Lots of woman early in the morning——the smell of hair products was strong and evidently purple, lavendar and plum are big this year.

It was a mix of things of course. The first speaker made me cry throughout her talk even while I was laughing at much of it. She is a long time nurse who has dealt with Alzheimer’s in her own family and she was an amazing speaker. I wish Ernie could have heard her, I wish my sisters could have heard her and I wish my Mom could have heard her. Both painful and very comforting. My parent’s geriatrican also spoke and I liked her which was good as I’ve felt rather neutral toward her. A couple of talks which weren’t real helpful for me and then at the end a speaker who was the most helpful in that she reminded me that this is about my father—-not the logistics and crap I may have to deal with (not that she made light of that) but it’s about him and making him happy…and about valuing the time we have with him.

Anyway I came home so exhausted I could barely talk to Ernie. We set off for Leo’s parent teacher conference and of course my boy is an amazing little creature. I really like his teacher—I think she gets him—-which is easier said than done. A couple of drinks at Huber’s (why waste a babysitter?) and now we’re back home. I want to go to bed but I guess I’ll go focus on fixing dinner instead. A good day…a BIG day…..I’d lay odds I fall asleep on the couch tonight and Ernie has to wake me up and make me go to bed……