Worst Food I have ever eaten: Blood Sausage in Hungary, it was cold and bloody and in a stew of awkwardly cooked noodles and rice.
Worst News of My Life: My mother has Alzheimer’s Disease. Found this out 6 days ago.
If my mother invented a social network it would be a lot like Pinterest. Thousands of pictures, tons of content, and everyone talking with everyone about everyone else’s favorite things. This social network would consist of people just like my mother, caring, hip, and quickest to the draw when the silence calls for a witty comment. My mother’s social network would show pictures from her past, growing up poor in New Jersey and picking trash for her prom dress. It would tell the story of how she was #8 into the tub water, after her 7 siblings had already washed up. Most of all it would tell the story of an amazing woman who helped raise 4 independent boys who all would become successful in their own right. My mother’s social network would be amazing.
My mother’s social network wouldn’t consist of just profile pictures and timelines. It would also include a section for “where you’re headed” and “this is what you spoke into existence.” There would be an area for “lessons from the past,” and “what I’ve always wanted to be.” My mother’s social network would have a large section about “amazing buys from Big Lots” and “Saturday breakfast at Chutes.” My mother’s social network would be very social and very personal.
When I was a young man my mother would sign me out of high school to go to breakfast or to go and look in the windows of new houses being built. If my mother invented a social network it would show the pictures of those houses she’s been spying on, and offer tips for seeing into those windows over 6′ from the ground. (Pack a foot stool and empty houses only, of course.)
As I became an older man my mother helped me with planning a wedding and learning to iron. If my mother invented a social network it would have a section about those simple things she taught me. It would warn me to not hold the iron to long on my pink silk tie, and to not pack the dishwasher so tightly. My mother’s social network would offer a list of ways to get ketchup out of a white shirt.
My mother’s social network does not exist on the computer, currently it exists wherever she is. Though slower to the punchline my mother still has a knack for slinging the puns and dropping the one liners. This is why hearing that she has such a tremendously disheartening disease is almost unbelievable. I’ve never dealt with this diseases directly and when I found out, within hours I was getting support from my social networks.
On Twitter I heard from numerous friends and followers offering me advice and prayers. Through Facebook I found support and advice. YouTube offered a plethora of video’s and explanations. For a moment it seemed my Mother’s Social Network existed. Over the next few months and years I am certain of only one thing; time will pass. As it does, I will continue to be grateful of the support, advice, prayers, and love that I get from my social networks.
Though many of us have never actually met in person, or shared a conversation over an actual cup of coffee, your support is priceless and it warms my soul to know you would use your 180 characters to lend support to my family.
Any advice on Alzheimer’s Disease? Feel free shoot me an email or comment below.
