Angelos
Mantas

the Folks

In July of 2007, I received a call from my mother's doctor. She said my mother had been hospitalized, was suffering from confusion, and that I had to come down to institutionalize her and my father. After the two day drive from Chicago to Palm Harbor, Florida, I found both my parents at home, in good spirits, and seemingly fine.

And so started my journey into caring for my parents as Alzheimers and dementia took their toll. A journey into the medical, legal, and financial issues of aging, as well as the emotional and psychological aspects of watching your parents decline. The difficulty of trying to help people that don't want help, that say everything is fine, despite all evidence to the contrary. My father passed in 2011, and we moved my mother to an assisted living facility near my sister in Montana. My mother passed in 2016.

Although I didn't set out to make a document of this, I inevitably took photos during my many visits. Maybe I'm showing something we all go through. Maybe this is just therapy. I'll figure that out later.