Growing up Mary & I were best friends. We even shared a bedroom when I was really young. When I got older our family moved to Las Vegas but Grams stayed behind with my oldest sister in New York. Turns out I hated being in a totally new state and my mom let me move back to NY live with Grams. Unfortunately, things weren't going great for me and after a little over a year, I ended up back in Vegas, leaving Grams again. We spoke every day (multiple times a day if Mary got her way). When I graduated college I decided to head on back to live with Grams. If you couldn't tell by now, she was always my rock. I stayed for a few years until life took me traveling.

 

Mary started to show signs of Alzheimer's around 2012 though we didn't really recognize it like that during the time. When it started getting bad she moved in with my mom in Las Vegas just before she was officially diagnosed. It wasn't until Mary had left a family gathering barefoot in the Chicago snow that we were finally able to get her a diagnosis. But what were we supposed to do now that it was a reality? Our family decided 24-hour care would be best. It all seemed to happen so fast and I couldn't stand seeing how afraid she was. I was 29, no kids to care for with an extra bedroom in my apartment, it seemed like a no brainer! In March 2017 I checked her out of the nursing home & we haven't looked back!