My Mother's Journal

The initial idea for this work was to provide a space for a reader to record daily events in accordance to the date as recorded by my mother. What transpired is an abridged account of my mother’s last year of her life living at Luther Memorial Home in Mayville, North Dakota -- with added remarks and snippets of my life now in The Villages, Florida. Written in my mother’s aging hand, with extreme intellect and charm, the journal is a historical account of the daily life in a nursing facility. My Mother’s Journal portrays small matters that, when pieced together and seen from a distance, become large. Subsequently, her words are a rare gift and it is my hope that this will foster more such journaling. I would like to thank my early readers (Aunt Dorothy; my sister, Karen; my friend, Trish; and my step-daughter-in-law, Dixie) for their encouragement and support in completing this bittersweet and challenging project.