Reading, other than on an I-phone, it's important but becoming old fashioned; here, I talk books, novels, memoirs, autobiographies, non-fiction books or stories, which I do at ad nauseam

I read Molly Jong-Fast's memoir about her mother because my Kindle said I should, because I had a mom who had Alzheimer's disease (of course it did, to borrow from the author's writing style, which I loved). She was funny, heartfelt, yearning for answers, and largely conflicted about her upbringing. Her mother is THE ERICA JONG. I was an English major in college in the 1980s, I may be almost 20 years older than Molly. I have always liked her on MSNBC, now MSNOW. Did I ever read "Fear of Flying"? [I am now] I have my own fear of flying. I absolutely know of her mother, but never the details Molly puts into her book.

This was a really interesting read for me. I felt so sorry for Molly, but despite everything she was saying I recognized a strong human being in her. My mom had Alzheimers and she and my dad denied it also. Molly didn't have people yelling at her (my dad yelled at me often, each time I tried to tell my father that my mom had something wrong with her memory, or tried to talk about it with him, but it wasn't going to happen). My father denied it, up until (almost) the day she died. A bit of an exaggeration, but he even backtracked on the date of her death about how long she may have had it. A couple of months before my mom died, my sister thankfully stepped in to help me when she finallly believed that our father didn't have it under control, that he hadn't understood that my Mom had actually had Alzheimers and we better do something about it. Despite my telling my sister that my Dad just wasn't getting it, she truly believed he knew and was protecting "us", his kids. Right, no. Of course not. Of course he would believe my sister when she tells him my mom had memory problems and not me ... months before my mom dies. Then, they put her in a hospital during Covid-19 in 2020 because of a possible urinary tract infection and that she was becoming psychotic, and then there was a switch in objective -- to assist with her pyschosis. But putting her in a hospital at the beginning of Covid-19 when there was no vaccination? I was worried.

My father never understood that "dementia" (altough he wasn't admitting it) can be a terminal disease and when my mother did happen to die alone in a hospital during Covid 19, when she had recently got Covid but was psychotic all the same because she had Alzheimers, he never said, Oh, Sandy you were right. Ten years of trying to get my mom help. It all had failed. He never ever acknowledged it afterward.

So, of course, while reading Molly's book, I thought Molly was too hard on herself. She took care of her Mom and step-dad, they listened to her, she was strong, she got them care, she cared, she was not a bad daughter, she took care of things. People listened to her. I had failed; despite having good grades and being reliable, I had failed. No one listened to a word I had to say. My father even didn't trust how I drove,didn't recognize that I was smart and had figured something out no one else had or wasn't willing to talk about. He favored persons who gave him no trouble.

Molly's writing is wonderful to read, she's instructive when listening to her about politics on Morning Joe, and on other segments of MSNOW. She has thoughts about the book industry and where we are now. She recognizes that celebrity and maybe authorship now (!), is fleeting. I am really appreciative of her book and that my Kindle had suggested that I should read it. Her book is called, How to Lose Your Mother.

I lost mine, too, and it also felt weird, like Molly had felt, afterward. Molly seemed to be more forgiving about her mom and step-dad denying the disease than I ever was--a kinder human being I think than me. I was moved by her husband's cancer dilemma [is that a strong enough word?!] and that situation also kept me reading--to see how he'd do. I am dealing with something less formidable, myself, but dealing all the same. Cancer is an ugly word; an ugly thing.

How to Lose Your Mother is a great read. I highly recommend it.