How do you spell....?

My sister and I, along with our wonderful husbands are in the process of helping my Mother move into an assisted living facility, and it's incredibly stressful. We've been knee-deep in this for a few weeks now and things are progressing rapidly. We've carefully laid out a path for her and we'll be there every step of the way, every day... to love her and ensure she's getting the care she deserves.

We've found a wonderful place, and luckily, my Mother is receptive to this. She'll be moving in soon (probably this weekend). She is a collector extraordinare and her house is jam packed with stuff. So, I'm very very busy with this. There is so much to do, so much to think about that at time it completely overwhelms me. So, I'm just trying to take it one step, one day at a time.

The timing is good in one respect, because I'm on my annual summer hiatus. I need to be with my Mom as much as possible... while she's agreeable, she's still very sad... and the hardest part is that she can't take her little dogs. We've found good homes for them, and they'll be able to visit, but needless to say, for "dog lovers" this is still painful.

Happily there are two resident cats and one resident dog on the premises which will surely help ease her sorrow. Her new home is very homelike, and we'll be taking as much of her things as we can. It's causing great sorrow to know that she'll have to say goodbye to other things, but we've promised to keep them in our homes, in case she wants to see them.

This has been an extraordinarily difficult time.... however, it has had it's plus sides as well. My sister and I have become very close, and we're aligned arm and arm to help our Mother in any way we can. Lots & Lots of work ahead... but it will definitely be a labor of love!