“Flowers fall when we cling to them, and weeds only grow when we dislike them”.
Dogen,  Zen Master
We have now come to a turning point in what feels to be a long long fade — a kind of toboggan slide downward— as my mom continues to lose her bearings and now, according to the staff around her, needs to be placed in another facility with full time nursing care around her. I can recall my mom standing on one leg in the kitchen years ago drinking bancha tea.
Surya and I just watched the Aug 9, 2022 Frontline special ‘Afghanistan Undercover’, a PBS documentary directed by the amazing Iranian journalist Ramita Navai. After the U.S exited the country one year ago, the Taliban in Afghanistan have pulled the human rights rug right out from underneath women in that society. It reveals just how devastating and exploitive fundamentalist religion can be and, when mixed with male domination, leaves women vulnerable to neglect and abuse.
Following my last entry in which I shared some reflections of my time with my 88 year old mother who suffers from dementiaI was pleased to hear back from some of you who shared your experiences attending to an aged parent. There are just so many trials and tribulations in witnessing the deterioration of the body-mind of someone we cherish.