Category Archives: Family
When we could have been
Much of what we do is unthinking forgetting to engage our profundity and collateral effects detector So that if we think to promise Mom no nursing home we ought think about her sitting helplessly watching us kill ourselves While we … Continue reading
Don’t promise me no nursing homes
Please don’t promise me to never put me in a nursing home Instead, take me to visit my old home bring from there my favorite things But do not kill yourself cleaning after me, picking up my weight, cajoling me … Continue reading
A jigsaw puzzle too big for the table
A jigsaw puzzle too big for the table is our society, our family, our life. :- Doug.
Posted in Family, Poetry
Leave a comment
The modern form of shunning
How might we restore life to those in the nursing home? Do we see folks in nursing homes as dead men and women walking? We need to assign blame in this to ourselves, and not to society in general: what … Continue reading
Courts are a utility
Courts are a utility. Courts are not a hindrance, but a way to get clarity and finality, commodities rare in our world. When you need water you go to the water utility, for electricity you go to a different place. … Continue reading
Not a skill
Conversation is not a skill Like driving a car Many driving actions need to be Ingrained So we can act in an instant Conversing takes an ever new We Ever present Ever conscious of Everything The only ingrained is Moment … Continue reading
Posted in Conversation, Family, Healing and Wholeness, Poetry
Leave a comment
Cannot be unwritten
The poem cannot be unwritten :- Doug.
Posted in Eldering, Family, Poetry
Leave a comment
Meaning of life and dementia
What is the meaning of life for a person who has dementia? For a person who is never going to get well? :- Doug.
Posted in Caring, Eldering, Family, Healing and Wholeness
Leave a comment
Engaging is loving
Engaging is loving :- Doug.
Posted in Caring, Conversation, Family, Healing and Wholeness, Poetry
Leave a comment
A new person every day
A new person every day Mom is Can I meet her afresh? :- Doug.
Posted in Aging, Caring, Conversation, Eldering, Family, Healing and Wholeness, Poetry
Leave a comment
A Mom is a terrible thing to waste
A Mom is a terrible thing to waste :- Doug.
What does he like to do now?
What does he like to do Now? Meet Dad anew :- Doug.
9-year-olds, 3-year-olds
If some people who have trouble thinking are in some ways regressing, then what activities do we give to 9-year-olds, 3-year-olds? Could those things bring pleasure to some of our elders, help them feel engaged, heard, and touched? If this … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Eldering, Family, Healing and Wholeness
Leave a comment
Thinking forward in long-term health progressions
Thinking forward, thinking backward: how does this apply to families in long-term health progressions? Backward has its uses—what we have done for one another, how we have loved one another. Forward thinking takes us through observation and construction of the … Continue reading
Our holy work is to
Our holy work is to expand worlds: of individuals and families facing tough long-term care decisions, and of communities wanting to be communities. :- Doug.
Posted in Caring, Conversation, Eldering, Family, Healing and Wholeness
Leave a comment
My storytelling:
My storytelling: Ask my grandchildren What color is her hair? Gold as the what? What special ability does she have? What is she shy about? What reason does she have to leave her home this day? Whom does she meet … Continue reading
Posted in Eldering, Family
Leave a comment