This past year, we realized that my parents needed more help than Lisa and I could provide. We were at the house 24/7 and that was not enough. My dad moved into Sunrise and my mom went to live in a group home.
When we made the initial plan, mom and dad were both going to go to Sunrise. Mom needed another test which was going to take some time, but we needed to get dad in Memory Care. They were running out of space and we needed dad to be somewhere he could be safe. He wasn't doing well at home and we believed that Sunrise was going to be good for him. We toured Sunrise and loved the place. We shopped for dad and got him new stuff for his room. He did really well at Sunrise and seemed to get his strength and memory back. We were thinking about moving him to a non-memory care room, but he decided to move to Bountiful instead.
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Sunrise
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My mom was never able to make it to Sunrise. She came along for a tour and saw my dad's room, but she was so weak and needed special care for her cancer. After her 2nd trip to the hospital, she was never able to get on her feet and died 3 weeks later. Lisa and I toured group homes and found one that we liked for my mom. She made good friends with the workers and had many visitors. I picked up my dad from Sunrise and we visited my mom every day. It was such a sweet experience and I'm so glad that I was there with them. He always kissed her before he left to go back to Sunrise. I know that it was hard separating them and I wished that we were able to pull off the original plan, but it didn't work out. We did the best we could with the circumstances. My parents understood that.
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Mom's Group Home
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My parents moved into their house in Nov. 1987. We made so many memories in that house. It was full of life when my mom was around. When we moved in, my brothers ran into the house and picked the bedroom farthest away from my parent's room. I shared a room with Lisa who happened to be the one closest to my parents. Lisa married in '92, so I got my own room. We eventually all moved out and on with our own lives. My room because the John Wayne room and a guest room where Debbie or Jeff would stay the night. Debbie's room became the craft room which was chuck full of crafts. The boy's room was another guest room but held all the Christmas stuff in the closet and under the bed. We would store our Christmas stuff in that room. When my mom died and dad moved to Bountiful, we finished cleaning out the house and put it on the market. It sold quickly to an investment company that flipped the house. It was hard to go to the house when it was empty. I missed feeling my mom's energy. She was the life of the house.
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Our House
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My brothers came down to finish cleaning up the house and take up some stuff. They worked hard in the heat to get the stuff packed up. I will miss our house, but I know that the memories are with us.
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My brother and I
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