Category: Anticipation

I have become a reluctant outdoors-person. Maybe it is the prescribed shot-glass of sunscreen every 2 hours to protect from melanoma recurrence and thyroidectomy scar or the magnetism I have for ticks and mosquitoes . . . I prefer rainy days at this point. Maybe it is because of the fear of clogging the spa filters and the pool boy’s angst . . . and maybe it appears pitiful. But I am meeting myself in my reality–for today. Technology, like this video, gives me a range of options our parents’ did not have. We live in a beautiful world at…

This is a common refrain. A caregiver asks Dr. Cate for dementia guidance. I answer a specific question and then outline strategic plans they may want to consider. The response is always “We are not there yet.” The question to ask yourself is “where is there?” When your relationship is enough overwhelmed with brain change to ask for help—where are you? As a caregiver myself, I hear myself saying “not there yet”. This is an answer that comes from my desire to be anywhere but here—and my fear of there. It is my fear of financial struggle, and my fear…

Having just returned from a whirlwind trip to Tampa, we are now preparing for a week in MD followed by two weeks in Spain.  Each trip is full of family and memory making presence.  Looking back I remember the same anticipation as a young family with selective purchasing, wrapping, preparing.  Today we purchase plane tickets, we pack, we prepare in different ways.  But the common ground is anticipation.  Presents for the family are now translated into presence with the family.  This season  is a wonderful gathering point, regardless of what holiday you are celebrating.  It is a time of decreased…