Everyday

Everyday is life, and everyday has its wonder and its challenges. My tulips are unfolding before my eyes, having been delayed by a foot of snow each of the last four Tuesdays. The challenge for my tulips this week will be six more inches forecast to fall tonight. April's last hurrah.
While the world around me is seesawing between winter and summer, I feel the same. Beautiful morning runs in cool, clear weather, bring out the best in me. There is a joy in being out that makes the effort feel effortless. At the same time, I'm thinking of my mom, and her challenges with dementia. It's part of her arc of life, after avoiding all the other diseases that have lain in wait, and now reaching her late nineties. She awaits the antics of the squirrels outside her window, or a phone call from one of the family, or a bite of bitter, dark chocolate, or a swirl around the dance floor as she leads my husband. I've spent the last twenty five years helping my daughters become more independent everyday, and now, everyday, I try to soften the blow to my mother of losing that treasured independence.