When my mother was young and a working woman, she worked in a nursing home as a cook. The tales she told my father and me about how some of these people were treated was enough to encourage me never to do that to them. I made a promise to myself that I would take care of my parents no matter what. Little did I know how truly difficult that could be. Now my mother, who has been widowed for 6 years has been living with Steve and me for about a year and a half. It is not always difficult, there are days that are better than others. One of the nicer moments was when I was able to give Mom a new hairstyle after having been so ill for a couple of months. Just before her 83rd birthday, she was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and truly began to show her age. Just before my 58th birthday I decided to give her a perm and give her back the curls she had when she was young. It worked and her mood improved considerably and as a result so did mine.