Remember That We Love You

It isn't easy to watch a parent slip away emotionally or mentally with dementia or some other  debilitating illness such as alzheimer's. It must be doubly hard to be the parent who cannot seem to remember their childrens names, their age, or a million other important details from their lives.

Over the past year or so, I have watched my mom in law go through the early stages of dementia that affect so many elderly. She has taken it like a trooper. I wrote her this poem to celebrate her 87th birthday and so that she might be reminded again that those around her have an unceasing love for her. I also wrote it for all the seniors who struggle day by day to remember their families and the joys of being a spouse, a parent, and a grandparent. 

God blesed me with two of the greatest in laws that a man could have when I married my sweet wife, Kim. Jerri and Jack Maddox have treated me like one of their own from the very day I met them.