Comments on: An Altered Book :: The Gift

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:05:47 +0000

I was seeing how some women are making art journals using the altered books idea and thought I would type in Gesso so see if I could learn more about the process and if they actually used the gesso as the glue to adhere 3-4 pages together to have a substantial piece to paint and create on. This altered book of yours is leaving me speechless and an ache in my heart for you. There is something to be said about mothers, mothering. There is no one in my life that will ever love me or know me as my mother. In watching my children grow into adults and learning to mother in new ways I find I am learning about the woman she is and the woman I am…... its profound.

By: Carl J. Humphreys Sr.

Carl J. Humphreys Sr. — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:14:09 +0000

Thank you for sharing your most wonderful Mom!

Know that your Mother’s spirit has affected me now in a beautiful way. I will be sharing Her with my grown children now.I just know they will be delighted!
Both you and your Mother have inspired me.
Peace be with you,
Carl J. Humphreys Sr.
P.S.My wife’Wanda’had a brain tumor removed about three years ago. She is not exactly the same girl as she was,but there is joy and satisfaction to be found in helping her with the things she has trouble with now.

By: Jax

Jax — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:44:02 +0000

I was touched by your story about your mum and how you felt as her health declined. Dementia is a horrible thing to experience in your family. I had the privilege of working with Dementia clients for nearly five years. It was the most rewarding job I have ever had. These are wonderful people and I always had the feeling that there was this part of them which was aware and never changed who they were as a person despite the loss of memory. I watch as families struggled with the changes…some better than others…some simply could not cope and it was not our place to judge if they could not face visiting this person who had in their eyes become someone else. It’s hard to loose someone that you love at the best of times let alone to something which erases their memory of you or tends to make them confuse you with another person/family member. It makes no difference that you know that there is no coming back from dementia….or how prepared you think you are for that final day…it is still a shock, it still breaks your heart. I felt privileged to sit with those who were passing. I felt for the families trying to come to grips with those final hours. We never let someone die on their own there was always a staff member there if family could not be present. We read to them, sang to them and held their hand…hearing is the last to go. Our facility had a no resusitation policy and families of clients coming in were made aware of that. I feel for reply’Feburary 2009’ who felt her mother was euthenised and not given a drip etc. I wonder if she realises how much longer her mother would have suffered despite the morphine which she feels hastened her death. I watched my sister die from Bowel cancer and how her pain was managed …..it left much to be desired. Surely it is better to have someone slip quietly away than prolong that life of agony because we ourselves are not ready to let go. Some years ago my sisters and I made the decision to turn of the life support of our wonderful mother…it was heart breaking but we knew her wishes. We knew that the quality of life the Doctors felt was ‘good’ enough….if she should survive after this was simply not good enough and not what she would have wanted. Much as we were distraught at having to make that decision I know now from the experiences I have with the dying elderly that it was the right thing. My mother was a christian too and I know she is at rest until christ returns for those who have loved him.

I am an artist myself and have been exploring my own family history of ‘resemblence’ through drawing. I loved your book and just love drawing the elderly. I hope to make a difference with my art to the ignorance that is out there in society regarding dementia, altzeimers and aging in general.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:37:18 +0000

I just happened on your altered book site. My eye caught the story of your mother. When I read about your mama, it was as though you were writing my story. Im so sorry about your mama, I know how different they become. Thanks for sharing, it makes this heaviness not so heavy knowing that someone else understands.

God Bless You,
Debbie

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:30:51 +0000

Karen , I cannot begin to say how much this whole article moved me; with inner stillness and outer tears. The tears were of the complete beauty in the photo, in the book and the time taken , in your words but mostly in the love that this piece is so carefully wrapped it.
There is so much to learn from this one page.
I am sure I will visit it again…
with respect

By:

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:41:19 +0000

what a lovely woman your mother was, and what a beautiful sensitive daughter she raised.

By:

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:53:29 +0000

I know how you felt at the sight of the strange new mother. I too, lost my precious mother to the ages. She suffered a great deal of pain and was so much in pain that it was never relieved until the hospice Compassionate Hands came in with their morphine. After months of dementia and illness, surgery and neglect by the medical community, she passed away to Heaven. Her belief in Christ that she gave me, kept us through it. The hospice nurses medicated her into a coma and then they didn’t give her IV or Lasiks. She was gone in a very short time and I still feel as if I allowed them to euthanize her… what a nightmare. She was dying yes, but I still feel as if they hastend it… I know I did my best, but it seems so wrong the way they treated her. I know that there are many more and much worse stories of hospice. I feel as if the most beautiful, harmless person on earth was just quenched in her helplessness. Good that I have Christ. He promises that I will be with her again. He is our mediator, and the one with all authority. He conquered death and the grave.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:57:27 +0000

Karen, When I first glanced at the photo of your mother I somehow knew or felt your connection to her and that she had left you with a heartful of memories, that you were meant to share. As I read of your experience, I could feel the warm tears roll down my cheeks, my heart was with you as you mourned for your mother.Rest assured, she lives on… within the hearts of all who cherish the soul of us all. My mother is with us still and I am so aware of the difficulty, and prayers that are so deep within us when we feel so helpless to make things better for those we love. Thank You for sharing so much with us all. Sincerely, Sharon

By: mary

mary — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:40:36 +0000

I too lost my Mom to Alzheimer’s, in 2004. My brother and I took care of her for 5 and a half years. I wrote about it all along. I was telling a friend about wanting to put the writings in some form … a book, a play, a movie, what? She mentioned an altered book. What’s that, I asked. I googled it and found you! You with the same experience. Feel free to visit my blog “Helen’s Girl” that you can find by following a sort of “rabbit hole” on my website – a brain icon. It’s about my Mom’s decline. I’m inspired to create an altered book. As a writer and artist it feels like the perfect form for this story. I look forward to exploring this medium. I am grateful to have found your beautiful work and a kindred spirit who knows the experience of losing a precious mother bit by bit.

By: mosaic tile

mosaic tile — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:37:05 +0000

hey karen
nice poem
really heart touching
i was so impressed by your simple expression
good work