I have been blogging on a book I enjoy; Matt Chandler’s Explicit Gospel.

Lately it has been hard because my Mother has passed away. Her death at the age of ninety-six is the end of a long road of caregiving.

Mom had dementia and I think she would want me to devote a post to her. She always encouraged me to write, in fact putting a bit of pressure on me, saying she wanted me to write a book about “the family.” In the early days of her dementia when she lived at home and was able to do a couple of things on a computer, I think she may have looked in on some of my posts for “St. John Studies.” With the onslaught of dementia that stopped.

I never knew what she meant by saying “write a book about the family”, but I knew where she was coming from. She had a long history of loving her family and in her childhood days, her family was very large. They gathered every year at her grandfather and grandmother’s home. It was a very important event that lasted for an entire week.

In recent years her family became small but I don’t think she realized that. She kept telling me that she had to gather her family together. I stupidly told her about the young ones who moved away and the small number who lived in driving distance. She could not understand where everyone went. I probably should have just played along and changed the subject. Correcting someone with dementia is not recommended.

I will get back to Matt Chandler soon. I am trying to take steps to grieve, but grief is a process that takes on a life of it’s own. I don’t command it. It just happens.

In the meantime, I dedicate the next post to Mom. If someone reading this blog gets some insight, that’s great.

It’s all about Mom and I think she would like that…