Old Parents and Purple Tulips: Navigating The Maze Of Care-giving, Dementia, Sibling Conflict, And Guns

by Betty Alder

Old Parents and Purple Tulips is not a pretty story, but it’s a valuable story – a thought-provoking story – a necessary story for American families in the throes of dealing with a burgeoning aging population and for the 3 million people annually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within those families. Old Parents and Purple Tulips is a fictionalized narrative memoir based on the experiences of one family, their successes and failures in recognizing and dealing with mental deterioration of loved ones, and the impact on family relationships of those who become care-givers. The two-volume story tells of a ten-year traverse through a painful, frustrating, often bizarre, and occasionally humorous pathway as the main care-giver, the daughter in the family, becomes the parent of her parents. This ordeal necessitated her seeking a guardianship for both parents through county superior court, and excluding an older brother based on his financial mismanagement of the parents’ affairs and sometimes even physical abuse.

497 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2015

Reviews

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Betty's writing to be in an unusual style but very down-to-earth and matter of fact. The story of her struggles with her parents and brother was totally fascinating to me. It was a page-turner for me. I finished this book within a few days of receiving it.