Download Welcome to the Departure Lounge: Adventures in Mothering Mother AudioBook Free
When Meg Federico's eighty year-old mother and newly minted step-father were finally forced to simply accept full-time home care and attention, she dreamed them settling into a Norman-Rockwellian life of docile dependency. With a family of her own and a full time profession - one thousand miles away from her parents - Federico hoped her mother and step-father can manage themselves generally, and call on their children when they really needed them. After all, why else would an eighty-year old woman remarry? But following a fall while travelling in Florida, Federico's mother, Addie, sits bolt upright on her gurney and yells, "I demand an autopsy!" before fainting again. It's the first in a string of occasions both heartbreaking and entertaining that make Welcome to the Departure Lounge such a riveting read. As she pieces from the sidelines with horror, Federico's parents become terrible teens - with licenses to drink and drive. Fighting off onslaughts of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, Addie and Walter, forbidden to drink by doctors, conspire to order circumstances of scotch by phone; Addie's attendant accuses the night staff of midnight Voodoo; Walter's inhibitions drop as dementia increases and mail-order gender aides arrive at the front door. The list of absurdities goes on and on as Federico will try to take some control over her parents' lives - and her own. With her fresh and easy tone of voice, Federico writes a story for the huge era now working with the care and attention of their parents. You'll have fun and weep as you take the raucous drive with Meg Federico in this powerful debut.
