Something I’ve been trying to do since Mom passed is interact with Dad as much as possible. Mostly over the phone, but I’m weaving in more in person visits as well. He’s got Alzheimer’s and our relationship most of my life was difficult. He got better about me for several years, but his Alzheimer’s has caused him to repress back to those harder times. When obedience is expected even though I’m an adult. He’s guarded from me and I don’t know why. In our better visits chats center around his love for and missing Mom, which helps. I don’t know what sort of services my brother set up for Dad before he returned to Seattle. He cut me out of Mom’s funeral planning so I let him play hero and tend to Dad’s care. That part I’m fine with as he totally went against Mom’s wishes that we work together on their end of life affairs. Yet it leaves me with questions and uncertainty as to how to approach Dad. Which makes maintaining a relationship with him on the hard end. I’m realizing all the times he quickly handed me off to Mom when I’d call was partly because of his developing Alzheimer’s. Mom was preserving his dignity but it set up a distance that’s now a permanent part of our interactions. Any suggestions? I do worry about him yet at the same time I know I can’t accept his abusive ways any longer

Posted by hollandc7 at 2024-02-05 19:46:30 UTC