Been So Long

It has been almost three months to be more exact.  There is so much to say, I almost don't know where to begin.  So, I'll start at the beginning.

Last Fall a series of events occurred that made it clear to me that something in my busy life had to give.  This revelation came at the most inopportune time as I felt that I had just hit a sweet spot with respect to building an audience for this blog.  I had been meeting some great people through various social media networking events and overall, things just seemed to be pointing in a positive direction.

But, as the old saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, start making plans.  In November, my family had what the old folks call a "come to Jesus" moment. 

I have alluded to the situation in very guarded language previously, but last September my Mom was diagnosed with early onset dementia.  By November, the painful and sudden reality of this diagnosis became clear when she went missing for hours.  If you can only imagine what goes through one's mind in a sitation like that...thankfully, she returned home safe.

Some members of my family would rather that I not even utter the word dementia, let alone Alzheimer's disease.  Some would argue that I am compromising my mother's dignity by exposing something so personal.  Others might argue that by accepting the diagnosis, I am admitting defeat and demonstrating insufficient faith.

Well, this is my blog. She is my mother too, and if you only knew how far I've come on half a mustard seed of faith without losing my mind...



But this piece is not about my mother or my family.  It is about me.  And this blog.  And how I intend to reclaim my space.

The point of this blog from the very beginning was to offer a humorous take on how a typical Busy Black Woman gets through this thing called life.  Now that dementia and caregiving have become major factors, I figure that I have a little more expertise on the topic!

Know that there is nothing funny about dementia.  I cringe whenever I hear an insensitive joke about old age and forgetfulness because if occasional absent-mindedness was all there was to my mother's condition, that might actually be funny.  Unfortunately, dementia is far worse.  It is scary and unpredictable.  But so is life.

And there is humor in life, so there is humor in dealing with the challenges it brings.  Like having to referee disagreements between a senior citizen and a toddler.  Or trying not to lose it when someone insists that the internet is a more trustworthy source of information than a medical doctor.  Or when you realize that your husband really should not do the laundry.

So for the foreseeable future, I intend to keep looking for the humor in my Busy Black Life and I invite you to come back to read all about it.  As previously promised, I will limit the depressing self-loathing stuff to the Cafe blog (since therapy ain't hardly free), and hope to offer more of that quirky, awkward humor that attracted readers to this blog last year.  In that spirit, my intention was to post a video or maybe some audio of my latest theme music...but as Prince doesn't allow his stuff on YouTube, I have to settle for this: