being there

“MOM, PLEASE GET IN THE CAR.”

She ignored me and wandered through her small vacation home—a mobile home, actually, by a lake outside town—in search of her favorite night cream.

“Mom, we have to get Dad to the hospital now.” I tried to steer her toward the front door. She shrugged me off. I fought the urge to yank her outside. I had learned it would just agitate her and slow things down.

Five years earlier, Dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given six months to live. He’d beaten the odds so long, his oncologist called him Superman.

Now the odds were catching up with him. He needed lots of care.

Mom was making caring for him as hard as possible. She didn’t mean to. All my life she’d had a suspicious nature, been hesitant to trust people plagued by unfounded doubts about Dad’s faithfulness. Recently, her suspicions had crossed over into full-blown paranoia. She believed