Motherhood

Ann Campanella’s memoir details her journey through caregiving for her mother with Alzheimer’s at the same time she was struggling to start her own family. I felt it all: the anxiety, the frustration, as well as the pain, as she watched her mother decline while coping with an inability to conceive. Ann’s book reminded me to appreciate life’s joys, no matter how small, whether riding a beloved horse, marveling at a sunset, smelling a beautiful flower, or offering a simple hug. 

In this deeply personal memoir, Campanella, at age 30-something, shares her journey of losing her own mom to dementia, while trying to become a mom herself, but suffering multiple miscarriages. At this time when she most needs her mom’s comfort, she is caring for her mom as though she is a child. Campanella, a horsewoman, finds comfort in the massive power and silence of the animals she tends in her barn. Campanella eventually does have a beautiful daughter and contrasts the excitement of development of the little girl with the pain of the decline of her mom.