Welcome to the Departure Lounge: Adventures in Mothering Mother

As an only child who has been caring for my 90+ year old parents, I think this book literally saved my life. It put everything I've been going through into perspective. Nothing my parents have done, neurotic and eccentric as they are, compares to the experiences in this book. I couldn't put the book down and loved every page. I would like to read more of her books. Very well written and gave me absolution.

This book is so good. It is such a timely surprise because I know so many people with a mother who has alzheimer's. It gave an inside view of people who have alzheimer's and those to take care of them, along with the lighter side of it all with much sensitivity and respect. I truely enjoyed this book. I mailed my copy to a friend whose mother has alzheimer's; unfortunately, she never received the book because it was stolen in the mail.

If you are anyone's adult child-READ THIS BOOK! If you have not yet lived through the demands and loving life lessons of balancing your "primary life"-caring for your spouse and children and attending to your career-while being called upon to juggle everything to help a parent ease through their final months or years, then this book will give you insight into the gifts and struggles encountered as a child becomes the parent to a parent. If you have already gone through this passage, it will help to read that you are not alone in the moments of insanity you experienced and that humor comes at the expense of nothing. Federico's Welcome To The Departure Lounge explores a journey many of us would not book with intent, but one upon which we necessarily embark sans guidebook, schedule, or knowledge of our destination. The pathos, introspection, humor, reevaluation of youthful parental/child issues, and the emergence of redefined and renewed sibling relationships and dependencies are presented with honesty, great humor, and graceful abandon.

Federico's Welcome to the Departure Lounge was a rare treat. I curled up in front of a roaring fire and didn't stop reading until the last page. Laugh-out-loud-on-the-subway funny, Federico has a sharp wit and the ability to use an anecdote to illustrate her point with Sedaris-like precision. Similar in tone to Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, the precipitating incident for the major life change is the decline of a mother, rather than getting a divorce. This book will do wonders for caregivers and receivers alike in the same way that pregnancy/parenting books which finally acknowledged that there was more to it than rosy cheeks and happy giggles helped parents feel they weren't alone (or, perhaps more important, weren't monsters). Federico's big-hearted humor permeates the book, so too does her fairness: Federico has a strong point of view that she tempers with an ability to see that others might not feel the same and have their own reasons for their behavior. Welcome to the Departure Lounge is about caring for an ailing parent, but it is also about exploring a complicated parent-child relationship. I highly recommend Welcome to the Departure Lounge.

Meg Federico's Welcome to the Departure Lounge is a poignant, hilarious, beautifully written and invaluable book. It tells the story of a mother's decline and eventual death, and a daughter's determined effort to make this difficult process as dignified and decent as possible. As her mother lapses further into dementia, and her household (consisting of an Alheimers-afflicted husband and an assortment of mostly well-meaning relatives, friends and care-givers) falls into chaos, Ms. Federico struggles to bring sanity to the situation. But she finds she has to make more personal sacrifices and to deal with more bizarre situations than she had anticipated. And she must also find a way to resolve the conflicts in her difficult relationship with her mother. Ms. Federico accomplishes the difficult task of telling this story in a way that recognizes the outlandish humor in the frustrations that constantly arise, even as she gives full weight to the underlying heartbreak, sorrow and loss. She gives us a true affirmation of the process of living with all its tenderness, pain, giddy humor, sacrifice, indignity, exuberance, sadness, and inevitable loss. For anyone who has ever been involved in tending to an aging parent, this book will strike many (and not all painful) familiar chords. And for anyone who is anticipating or currently tending to an aging parent, Welcome to the Departure Lounge will will be an invaluable, funny and wise companion. It's also a wonderful funny and heartwarming read.