My father-in-law has Alzheimer's.
And he-- we do a lot of the caretaking.
So he lives with us maybe two months or three months out
of the year.
And this is a prose poem about some difficult moments when he
was being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
And at the same time, my husband's ex-girlfriend
had passed away suddenly, and no one
would take her cats in New York City.
And he had lived with these cats, and they were old.
They're 15.
And he was like, we got to take them.
We've never been cat people.
And I was like, yeah, I mean, they're
not going to-- no one's going to take these cats.
So we got-- he drove 12 hours to New York City and came back.
And all of this happened three weeks before our wedding.
[LAUGHTER]
"The Last Drop."
You've left your dad in Virginia with your brother after taking
him to the neurologist to confirm that it is, in fact,
Alzheimer's.
Now, you're driving to New York to get
your dead ex-girlfriend's cats who need a home.
And even though we weren't planning on cats, they're 15.
And who's going to take them now?
And you know them already.
And why not give some animals a home
even if it's another 20 hours of driving there and back?
I tell Manuel about your travels,
and he says, "It's a good premise for a horrible road
trip dark--
horrible road trip dark comedy movie."
And there is something funny about it.
Your father hates cats, but they love him.
And I've spent a long time envious of your ex-girlfriend's
beauty, and now, I only miss her.
And I want to love her cats for her.
My memoir could be titled Everything Was Fine until It
Wasn't.
My memoir could be called I Thought I Wanted a Baby,
but All I Got Was Your Dead Ex-Girlfriend's Two Old Cats.
[LAUGHTER]
My memoir could be called Before the Wedding
You Must Suffer a Little.
My mother's motto is "Nothing Is Easy."
And I tease her for it, but it's true.
Before he left, your dad said he didn't understand the saying,
"Good to the last drop."
"Does that mean the last drop is bad?"
He said.
"No," I reassured.
"It means all of it is good.
Every single drop of it is good."