I never could have imagined my Mom being at a loss for words...

Mom was always quite the talker...a thousand questions about anything I would bring up with her...

Times have changed...two years ago my siblings and I made the decision along with Mom's physician that she would need to give up her independent living.

Mom is 93 and she is in the Alzheimers section of her life care facility where she and my dad moved into a beautiful garden home in 1990. Dad died of cancer in 1998.

I visited her today and it was one of my most teary eyed times with her. Her words are formed with more and more difficulty.

I tried calling my sister in Ohio so that she and mom could have a little conversation.....didn't happen this time....Mom barely made a tiny sound during the course of the conversation.

She still knows me, thankfully, and most everything else seems to be very foggy for her. She prefers to be lying down most of the time.

My tears dripped down on her as I was looking down on her at close range so she could see my eyes. She has extreme macular degeneration and sees very little now.

Before I left, Mom did give me several I loves you and expression appreciation for my coming to see her.

What I've had to come to terms with in these two years is that life has its seasons and even though it seems very sad for Mom to have Alzheimer's, it means that she was healthy enough to live a long life into her 90's, a decade where Alzheimer's and dementia are way too common.

Mom's life was a full one...I'd have to say she has definitely led a Million Dollar Life! Lots of travel from an early age when travel wasn't nearly as common as it is today, wonderful family, an amazing husband, lots of interests, a love of learning.