My visit to my mother in the personal care home is ending,\u00a0 but the memories of our visit will carry me until the next time, if there is one.\u00a0 She is 95 and we are both blessed that her mind is still remarkably intact.\u00a0 There are lapses, but given her age, what can one expect?\u00a0 Her kindness and appreciation of the staff’s assistance makes her life bearable. Her main complaint is the food. She claims she has no appetite. The staff offer her other options and tease, “Are you the Queen?” She laughs and tells me on more than one occasion how they kid her. Her sense of humour and acceptance of what life has given her has carried her this far. There is still so much for me to learn from her.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My visit to my mother in the personal care home is ending,\u00a0 but the memories of our visit will carry me until the next time, if there is one.\u00a0 She… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88],"tags":[28,100],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-endings","tag-personal-care-home"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1LuVB-endings","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":405,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/the-winter-of-her-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":0},"title":"The Winter of Her Life","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This isn't the kind of photo you expect at this time of year, but I just returned from visiting my 95 yr. old mother in her personal care home and it reflects the mood of many who live there. 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The Ukrainian Greek Orthodox priest at my mother\u2019s funeral said she is now beginning her new life.\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Afterlife","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Black-Bird.jpg?fit=1200%2C1140&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Black-Bird.jpg?fit=1200%2C1140&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Black-Bird.jpg?fit=1200%2C1140&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Black-Bird.jpg?fit=1200%2C1140&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Black-Bird.jpg?fit=1200%2C1140&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6778,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/life\/lifes-emotional-roller-coaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":3},"title":"Life’s Emotional Roller Coaster","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I've recently launched Along Came A Gardener, my non-fiction book containing tips on riding life's emotional roller coaster. We all have challenges in life, whether it's in our personal relationships, or at work, or, as it is now, in our countries. These inner and outer conflicts are what drives many\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"along came a gardener","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Photo-for-Instagram-1.png?fit=522%2C710&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/books\/https-www-dianastevan-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":4},"title":"A Year of Hope and Frustration","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Where would we be without hope? It\u2019s what fuels our dreams and loves. But this past year has tested us all, lots of hope and frustration, with the war in Gaza and Ukraine (the birthplace of my parents), and AI threatening many livelihoods and our climate, which is already under\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hope and frustration","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-trilogy.jpg?fit=552%2C363&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-trilogy.jpg?fit=552%2C363&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-trilogy.jpg?fit=552%2C363&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":5},"title":"My Mother’s Stories","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm visiting my 95 year old mother in a personal care home. My mother was a wonderful storyteller but now her mind is failing.\u00a0 She can no longer remember details, but when I mention a slice of a narrative she gave me many years ago, her mind clicks in and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}