From a bestselling author and clinical psychologist comes a refreshingly honest and tender portrait of a devoted daughter shepherding her father through his final years of life.
After her mother died, Janis Abrahms Spring "inherited" her father (Pop) and set off on an all-consuming, fiveyear mission to make his days as rich and comfortable as possible. This is their story, overflowing with humor, insight, and love.
In beautifully crafted vignettes, Janis brings their deepening relationship to life-both the joy and the imposition, the happiness and the heartache. Early on, she watches with relief as her father adjusts to an assisted-living facility, buoyed by a resilient spirit and a network of new friends. She and her father share the intimacy of afternoons in the park, discovering wonder in the colors of a sandwich or a rose, and solace in a smile or a reassuring touch. But as Pop's health declines, Janis finds herself tested by daunting health-care and financial decisions, and the guilt of trying to balance her father's growing needs against her own.
From her unique perspective as a therapist-weaving together her personal story with the confessions of her patients -Janis explores the emotional and practical complexities of parenting a parent. In sparkling prose, she offers a language for this ordinary, extraordinary experience, helping other caregivers feel less crazy and alone. Inspiring, deeply moving, and frank, Life with Pop is an ultimately comforting meditation on a universal experience, as well as a book with profound lessons on how to grow old gracefully.
Product Details
ISBN13: 9781583333426
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
While writing of the joys and heartaches she experienced during the last five years of her "Life With Pop", Dr. Spring has endeared us to both her and her father. A beautifully written account of the challenges they faced as aging and illness compromised his abilities and sapped his independence, it portrays both her compassion and devotion, and his spirit and grace, as they explore each new scenario together. We seldom have the opportunity to experience such a frank and intimate view of the aging process and how it can impact families, so we are grateful to Dr. Spring for sharing this testament to the benefits of a positive attitude regardless. Definitely recommend you read this book.
Touching and thought provoking
Review Date: December 2, 2009
Reviewer: Deborah W. Ulam, Georgia
I just finished reading this book - My 84 year old dad has started to make plans to move closer to us. Luckily he is in great health, but I know what is coming closer ever year. I feel this book will better help me face some of the hard decisions that might be mine to make one day. Until then, I will treasure my time with him - be a little afraid of what might be coming - and terribly afraid of the day he will no longer be in my life. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us readers. I felt like I got to know your dad and you - it was a pleasure.
Perfect Timing
Review Date: November 23, 2009
Reviewer: N. Gray,
I want to thank Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D., ABPP for taking the time to put the story of her personal journey with her father in writing. After having lost my mother just 5 years ago, and having taken many of the same paths as she over the past few years, it gave me a renewed strength just as my father and I entered the final stages of his journey. This book is great for any Baby Boom Generation Caregiver whether it be to a father or mother.
Wonderful, inspiring read
Review Date: September 2, 2009
Reviewer: Robin Friedman,
This is a great read and inspiring account of a journey taken by a woman devoted to the cause of caring for her dying father. It is tender and moving and has lessons for us all. This will be a balm for anyone facing the challenges of providing for an elderly parent. But for anyone, it teaches important lessons about love and mortality. I highly recommend this.
Robin Friedman
Lessons and Gifts from Dr. Spring
Review Date: July 14, 2009
Reviewer: B. Janet Hibbs, Phildelphia, PA.
Often when you read a book, the suspense of seeing how it will end keeps you going. When I began Life with Pop, a memoir of the five years during which the author served as the primary caregiver for her beloved and increasingly debilitated father, I knew how it would end. The deeply emotional suspense comes in discovering how the universal experience of aging is revealed through Janis Spring's unique relationship with her father. This award-winning author and acclaimed psychologist lets us in on the pathos of aging, sprinkled with humor, deep meaning, the realities of caregiver limitations and exhaustion in the constant tension that exists when choosing between self and other. Life with Pop bravely, honestly and sensitively witnesses the very humanity of the ancient question of what children owe parents, as they complete their cycle of love, obligation, guilt feelings and balance. Dr. Spring's last gift to her Pop is this beautifully written, moving memoir. We are all blessed to have it as well.
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A heartwarming chronology
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