Mary Hiland

The Bumpy Road to Assisted Living Mary Hiland

Making the decision to move an elderly parent into assisted living against his or her will presents myriad challenges. Like many adult children who want to respect their parents' wishes, I didn't take action until it was unavoidable. But unlike most adult children, I had to deal with this crisis as an only living child who is totally blind. The logistics alone were merely the start of my uphill struggle with this daunting task. During the last two years of my mother's life, I learned many lessons about dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and she learned to accept the difficulties of being in her late nineties and living in an assisted living community. In The Bumpy Road to Assisted Living: A Daughter's Memoir, I not only describe the move, my mother's adjustment to a foreign way of life, and the emotional trauma for both of us, but also offer some advice and comfort for others who are experiencing such dramatic changes. What makes my story unusual is that I tell it with blindness always in the background. You will find some touching moments, some troubling ones, and some that are relevant to your own life. This is a memoir woven through my observations of who my mother was and who I am.