That's what I get for praying.

It all started with a prayer. 

My husband and I had gone to mass and my least favorite priest was presiding. I breathed a deep sigh and said: "Please Lord, give me patience." 

What's that cliche? - "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it..."

The next day, I received a call from my Mom at 7am. (Never a good sign.) "Your Dad has fallen again and the paramedics took him to the hospital." 

Oh crap. 

I live about 75 miles away from my parents. This was about the 6th fall that has happened in the past 6 months. The jig was up. Clearly, my parents were not safe to live on their own. 

This is a day that we all knew was coming but probably didn't want to face. As the child living the furthest away, I was pretty disconnected from my parents. My sister did the lion's share of the work - helping my mom, who has macular degeneration and can barely see, with cleaning and shopping, visiting far more often than I did. I threw my checkbook at a few small problems from time to time and tried to remember to call them once a week. In terms of being a daughter, I wasn't the worst in the world, but I certainly wasn't the best. But I'm not here to do reconciliation. It all seemed fine until that Monday.

To make a long story short, the hospital was going to release Dad but then I mentioned the fact that he can barely walk and/or care for himself. After 4 days of "observation" (during which time a dementia drug was administered and rendered him slightly left of crazy) and pretty intense neurological and psychiatric testing, he was diagnosed as having dementia and not ruling out Alzheimer's. His driver's license was revoked (at least ONE prayer was answered) and orders were written that he should not live unsupervised.

Because I don't work outside the home, our house was the most logical landing spot for my parents. Our guest room with attached bathroom was going to have full-time residents. Literally overnight, my sister and I had to pack up basic essentials for my parents, throw them in my car and move my parents up to my house. 

So here we are. 

Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride.