I have been my mothers’ caregiver for six years. We have had a few close calls with health issues in the first couple of years, so we had some conversations I believe most people avoid. You know “the elephant in the room” kind of issues. In our family the thing we never really talked about was how we felt, that thing called feelings or emotions. Instead we tried to say what we thought you wanted to hear, or so it seemed in my reality.
After my mother decided on “comfort care” I was sitting with her in the hospital and was telling her how happy I was that we had spent the last years together. Saying how much I loved her, how I had known her longer then any one else on this planet. I told her how happy I was I had gotten the chance to work on my mother/daughter issues (which I’m sure she went along with to keep me happy), not being of that generation that even worried about mother/daughter issues. So when I suggested to her in my 60’s cosmic awareness kinda way how maybe next time around I would be the mother and she would be my daughter. She gave me not exactly the evil eye but “that look” and said in a gutter ball voice ” I hope not.
And then we laughed.
The Buzzy Donahue Show 