• Its 7:15 time to wake up. Mom is still asleep. I touch her arm to let her know it’s time to start the day. She groans loud as she turns around to look at me. There is confusion in her eyes. I smiled to make her morning a little brighter but she just kept looking around.
    “Mama, it’s time to wake up”, I whispered. She jumped out of bed yelling, “Who are you? Why are you in my house?” I thought I was going to cry, “mama, it’s he Lilly your daughter, why don’t you know me?”
    My dad ran up but that only made things worse. She believed we had kidnapped her. I was crying but I knew I had to get to school. I ran into the bathroom and my dad was showing her pictures of us all trying to help her.
    I put on my makeup and clothes and tried to look happy as I got on the bus.
    When the pulled up next to my friend Alexis’ house I knew I had to tell her. When she got on I started of smiling and waving to her, but with every step she took my smile faded and tears streamed down my face. She ran to me holding me, asking me what was wrong. I told her everything and the only thing she could say is, “you're not alone.”Knowing I was not alone in this situation made me feel a little better throughout the day. During lunch we went to the school’s library. We looked up my mother’s condition. They were using big fancy words I did not understand, but I did know the word in bold Alzheimer's. My body was shaking, my hands were getting sweaty, and I felt a lump in my throat. Tears streamed down my face. I was trying to stay quiet but it was so hard.
    My dad called the school saying I needed to take a mental day off. He sat me in the living room. He asked me if I knew what was happening to mom. I just nodded. He tried to make it seem like it was not as bad as it seemed. We can always show her evidence that we are her family. I looked further into Alzheimer’s disease and one more thing brought me to tears, this disease is hereditary. Thoughts of me not remembering my life started to scare me. I started thinking about all the times I forgot names, faces, appointments…… what was I talking about?