Dear Lyn: My mother is 82 and was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2002. She lives with my husband and me. She currently believes she has two little children other than her five grown children. She has these spells in which she starts worrying about them and is afraid they are outside alone and can't get into the house. Sometimes she thinks they are ages 9 and 10. Other times she thinks they are about 2 years old. ...more

November 22, 2008

Why is it that when I'm sick I revert to being a child again? When I don't feel well, all I want is for my mama to come and bring me chicken soup and lay her cool hand on my forehead and tell me it's going to be all right. It doesn't matter that I'm a mother myself now and my mother is 80 years old. When I'm sick, in body or in spirit, no one can make it better like she can. I wonder. Do my children feel that way about me? They're adults now. They have lives of their own and "significant others" to comfort and cheer them. Maybe they really don't need me now. ...more

May 24, 2008