Waiting for Wings

Humor, anger, love, hate, grief, and laughter have a curious way of coexisting when an adult child is faced with a seemingly endless job of caring for a failing parent. Shock, anger, then angst, may be felt when learning that a parent needs serious assistance and is depending on the solitary adult child for help. Waiting for Wings portrays the complex journey of a daughter helping her mother reach her final day of life with grace, in the face of their thorny relationship. Navigating a maze of elderly healthcare issues, Waiting for Wings provides insights into the world of dementia, care facilities, medications, and final passage. Humorous, cynical, and inspirational quotations reflect a mood for the topic at hand. Practical tips are offered within the candid descriptions of care facilities, parent-child dynamics, financial matters, medications, funeral options, psycho-spiritual issues, and the dying process. While taking on caregiving duties, emotionally charged issues of parent-child dynamics often resurface as roles are reversed. Although an impending death affords an opportunity for psychological, emotional, and spiritual healing between family members, relationships may not be healed as much as we might like. It is sincere thought and intention that matters most, regardless of the outcome. Raised in close proximity to the namesake sign of Hollywood, California, E.A. Davis resides in Corvallis, Oregon, where she multitasks a plant pathology research career with myriad other activities. Her natural inquisitiveness, perceptiveness, and open-mindedness enabled Ms. Davis to discern subtle vagaries within the health and caregiving systems, while addressing her mother'send-of-physical-life issues. During this journey she discovered many people are unaware of these processes. With this book she hopes to alert and encourage others who may find themselves in similar situations.