On the Bright Side.

Marley drew this tableau of our family and two cats during one of my mother's recent endocrinology appointments. It was the best in a series of Try-to-Stay-Busy pictures, and it was the lone bright spot in a lengthy, tedious, stressful consultation between a new medical professional who was appalled by my mother's erratic glucose readings and a daughter desperate to explain a history of mismanagement and the current state of dementia so that we can continue with maintenance rather than attempt the impossible repair.

I would have given anything to be in that picture instead. There, we were happy and relaxed, and we were, according to Marley, eating pancakes.