Famili

I have another post waiting to be published but that one requires some nip and tuck. This is what's foremost on my mind now.

My grandmother has Alzheimer's disease, of which dementia is a symptom.

She has three children - my mother and my two uncles in Kuala Lumpur. She has her own kampong in Malacca but because she can't remember if she has eaten or not (among many other things that she has forgotten), her children take turns taking care of her. In between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the caregiver will send her to Malacca first where a good neighbour will take care of her for a few days before one of her children picks her up.

It is challenging taking care of people with dementia. They can't remember where they are, who we are, who her children are. Sometimes they can't even remember which stage of their lives they are. And so, at a ripe old age of 80, they are still calling out for their mothers.

I admire my mother's strength.

Many many years ago, my grandfather - my father's father, gradually lost his strength. He was lucid but he was weak. My mother took care of him, bathed him and fed him. We helped my mother to bathe and feed our grandfather and clipped his toenails too. But my mother was the primary caregiver.

Now, I see my mother once again playing the role of the dutiful daughter and take care of my grandmother even though it's emotionally taxing.

I wonder about me.

Will I have the same patience and strength as my mother?

I wonder about my children.

Will they have the same patience and strength as their grandmother?

I pray and I pray that all of us have infinite strength and patience and love to see all of us through our darkest days.