Alzheimer's and Easter - what a combination

My Dad has had diabetes for a long time and handled it well. With age he started forgetting to eat or take his insulin and last summer during a heat wave things went down hill fast. He's now living in a Memory Care facility with all the symptoms of Alzheimer's. It's tough, but we cope and talk about the same topic over and over when I visit. The hard part is Mom. Her memory isn't much better, but so far she can live in an assisted living apartment and care for herself. She doesn't understand what's wrong with Dad and doesn't see herself as having a bad memory. Make that- a really bad memory.

I've been arranging things for Easter. My brother and sis-in-law are going to be here from California. It may be the last family holiday together and we want it to be special. We'll pull out the old family vacation pictures and see what the folks can remember. But - between getting the house ready (I've recently moved so things are a mess), reminding Mom about the same things 2-4 times a day (No, they're coming this Friday. No, I'm buying the food you don't have to worry. Yes, I'll be picking them up.), shopping for food, and keeping up with work- I'm starting to wish I could share in Dad's "live in the moment cause nothing else is exists" way of looking at life.

So how do I cope with it all? Hug the cats, knit, read other people's blogs (poor Yarn Harlot and her Ann Arbor trip trauma!), and now write my own blog.

Until I have time to write more and link up to a few spots where people will actually find this - you can play "Find the Kitty". Chief and Bert are both in the picture....