A good daughter

Does WTF she needs to.

In this last week of May, as we close out our month of mothers, we are looking back at May poems from Every Day, Luv that touch on mothers and motherhood.

5/1/21
A good daughter
Isn’t necessarily
   popular,
Doesn’t necessarily
   make nice,
Won’t necessarily
   take the easy path.
Instead,
She sees
   the elephant
   standing on the corner
   eating all the good fruit
   and says
   “hey, it’s time for you to go.”
A good daughter
   looks down the road,
   sees what mom needs,
   sees dementia, feces,
   frustration, financial uncertainty.
And turns her life
   upside down
To embrace it.
❤
Adam

In Monday’s memoriam, I touched lightly on how much time my wife spent at her mom‘s memory care facility, particularly towards the end of her life.

Gail’s wonderful ferns that lived behind her house in Syracuse

It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t been through it how all-encompassing caring for an aging parent can be. Sometimes, in order to get the parent the care they need, you have to stop being nice and, if that doesn’t work, do the work yourself. In our case, it meant my wife essentially taking over all feeding duties for her mother because the facility didn’t have the time, staff, or patience to do it. It meant putting her own health, nourishment, and time at home on hold every day until her mother passed.

I don’t have much more to say than that. :)

Read this poem, and many others, in the full book.