Daily Archives: March 27, 2017

Life’s Rich Pageant

Posted March 27, 2017 by Kerry McFall

flower bouquet with text about Alzheimers

“Alzheimer’s Flowers”, mixed media by Kerry McFall

My Mom was recently diagnosed with “Alzheimer’s pathology”.  That means her Rich Pageant is heading into a fog bank.  It’s complicated, this haze that comes and goes.  She is stubbornly refusing to acknowledge it, falling back on the mythology of her generation, that “I survived the Depression and WWII and I can survive anything” brand of immortality.

As part of recent developments, my sweet sister-in-law and brother sent me this bouquet.  Sketching and painting have become an integral part of my days, an exercise in finding the good and praising it.  So I took this opportunity to include words describing the emotions that wash over us all.  The words are hazy to match the feelings.  The little strips of flowers are like that funky paper tape (Washi?) you see in crafts stores, not there for any particular purpose, not really holding anything together, but kind of like a bandaid that might make a kid feel a little bit better about the latest booboo.

And the pageant still marches on, slowing a little on this curve…