Photo Credit: Sonictk at FlickrInnocent question
Husband asks us at dinner,
"Share your life's best times."
Mother in law says:
"When my children were little.
You were all so cute."
Father in law says:
"I tried to take my life once.
The pills did not work."
An awkward silence
Descends on the family.
What can we say next?
2 comments:
"Holy Fuck!"
Can you swear at dinner at the IL's?
I'm sorry, honey. That was not a good space for any of you. What did HE say next? I know the ALZ ruins his cognitive powers at times, but was he ok? with the memory, with the sharing?
And how are you and Seth?
He went back to eating as if his response was perfectly normal. I suppose that is a normal ALZ reaction.
So we all kept eating as if it was normal, too. I think the silence was broken when one of the kids asked for more milk.
Seth and I are OK, but realize that we have to figure out the best way to talk to the kids about it - not just their grandfather's suicide attempt, but suicide in general.
The one who was clearly the most upset was my MIL. She's been struggling a lot lately with some of the incoherent and/or inappropriate things he says.
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