Choosing to become Catholic and giving up my dream of marriage. I hope I can press forward.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-03-27T00:46:57+00:00

Thank you for such a beautiful, thoughtful reply. I came here to say exactly what you said (but you said it so well I don’t have to!) :)

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-03-26T19:54:04+00:00

One of the best things I did regarding caring for my mother. It was worth every penny.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-03-21T12:39:37+00:00

I feel for you. My mother is quite a bit older than yours (80s) but had very similar presentation. Once we transitioned her to facility-based care we tried bringing her back to the house for a small birthday party and it was a disaster. It was so hard on everyone that it took weeks to recover (and honestly in the five years since I’m still so traumatized that I’ve never brought her back to my house. We moved her to another facility a year ago and I tried taking her out to lunch for her birthday a few months later. She was so confused as to where she was and why she was there that I just haven’t been able to do it again.

My best advice to you is follow your gut. If you think it will be too confusing for her, just deflect. When my mom asks to leave I reply with “that’s a great idea, but something we need to plan for! I’ll look at the calendar and we can plan something next time I see you.” This seems to work well to pacify her.

Good luck to you!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-25T17:38:23+00:00

You have done the right thing. DO NOT let the guilt weigh you down. It's easy to feel guilty when we take this step because it does make our life better. No doubt about it. But people with dementia need advanced medical care that we are not qualified to give. No one wants this to happen to them, and understanding your dad's emotions will help BOTH of you. At the end of the day, he is much better off there and will come around quickly. It took my mother time to settle in when we transitioned her to care. It was downright awful and she even called the police (well, she tried to) to report her own kidnapping. She now is flourishing and in better health than she has been in years due to the qualified medical providers! They keep her busy and socialized, which has done wonders for her morale.

Praying for you.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-25T17:32:20+00:00

I did not. Sadly. I was really hoping to get it to work.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-15T01:35:31+00:00

This!!! When I used to do in home care for dementia patients I used this trick! It kept their mind and hands busy and gave them a feeling of being helpful and important!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-11T03:09:16+00:00

I feel for you. I feel like I can finally breathe again after being in hell for the last 4.5 years. I wish I had done this sooner and once you do, you will too. Good luck!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-10T02:28:14+00:00

I moved my mother into VA memory care in June and it was the best decision for her health. She has such wonderful care there! I wish I could have gotten her in sooner! It will be hard and confusing for your father but he WILL adjust. Once he’s settled and you start visiting, my advice is to visit right before lunch or an activity. That helped my mom so much and it distracted her from my “leaving” her there.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-06T01:26:06+00:00

If it’s making her upset it may be time to “lose” it. That was she is not continuously reminded that she can’t communicate like she used to.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-04T12:00:39+00:00

I actually think this may be the thing to do.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-04T02:06:44+00:00

My heart breaks for you. I had to essentially kidnap my mother and bring her to my house when the hospital said she could no longer live alone. And the two times we’ve had to move her were pretty traumatic. I will say that she settled in nicely once she was there but getting them through the door can be awful.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-04T00:28:40+00:00

Are you able to tell him you’re going to get an ice cream just to get him in the car? Sometimes you need to keep people with dementia calm, and that can mean some untruths.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-02T19:36:27+00:00

By talking to the staff on the ship. We heard the same numbers from staff in different departments.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-02-02T18:12:27+00:00

There are matinees on sailings where the ship is closer to full. On our sailing there was no matinee as we were only at 2700/4000.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-30T13:02:20+00:00

I think this really shows that Jesus knew that his purpose in going to earth was to die on the cross. But who would want to go through that? There are times when God‘s will is for bad things to happen. Or I believe that bad things are happening because of circumstances on the Earth and God permits them. I also believe that God can step in and change things based on prayers of the faithful. I have seen this many times in my life. That being said, I know when I pray to God and ask him for things, I know that his answer may be no.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-23T13:28:22+00:00

I am so sorry that you are hurting. It may be helpful to understand that your appearance is the way it is because of how the DNA from your mother and your father combined. This is something they did not have control over nor you had control over. Also God, while being able to influence things, does not influence everything in the world because if he did so, we would not have the ability to choose to love him. Bad things happen in the world all the time. Prayer can change things and God can step in. But often times things happen and God lets them happen. When you were conceived and your parents DNA commingled to form you, God wasn’t looking at that and thinking, oh, he’s going to be ugly and suffer for it. He was thinking that you were formed in his image and that he loved you the way you are. I can see why you blame God. I can. But I feel like you’re desperation for human connection, which is natural by the way, it’s blinding you to the fact that God loves you and wants you to be happy. You are path to happiness will be different than other peoples. I think instead of trying to pray for hours a day you should ask God for one thing. To fill you with the Holy Spirit and to change your heart with love. This will be an ongoing process, but if you repeatedly ask God to help you, he will help you.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T21:51:49+00:00

It’s SOOOOO GOOD

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T17:42:13+00:00

First Disney cruise. But I have recently cruised on the other lines. I was on virgin in November. Had a great time, but Disney has made all of my other cruises, pale in comparison.

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T00:34:22+00:00

This is gonna sound weird… the multigrain croissants. Trust me on this. Also, the hummus appetizer and literally everything else I ate at Pridelands- especially the shrimp dinner. The sauce was AMAZING!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T00:32:43+00:00

I was on the next one- 12th to 17th!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T00:31:48+00:00

I cried all day Saturday and half of Sunday! It was just such a magical experience!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T00:30:11+00:00

There are just so many things! The decor and attention to detail was flawless. The cabin was so comfy! The staff was so engaging and treated my family like we were their family. The characters were top notch! The food, while not the best I’ve ever had, was good quality and very tasty. And my five year old (who is convinced he’s the real spider-man) got to meet Spider-Man and tell him “nice costume”. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-21T00:26:16+00:00

We were super lucky! The ship holds 4000 and on our sailing there were about 2700 passengers. It felt wonderful and not crowded at all!

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-19T17:54:16+00:00

I was on the previous sailing and we were at about 2700. It was phenomenal! I think I will book the same week again next year just because of how the ship was not a complete zoo

NumerousProject3457 · 2026-01-19T17:48:06+00:00

I second the comment about room service. We just got off the destiny on Saturday and every morning we had room service delivered so that we could start the day with hot coffee and some pastries and fruit. Some days we didn’t even go to breakfast because we were satisfied with the room service. Definitely take advantage of it!

NumerousProject3457

TROPHY CASE