Today I signed the papers to get guardianship and conservatorship over my mother. I have an emergency hearing set for next Tuesday because she is planning to leave for Florida as soon as she can talk her boyfriend into leaving. She expects to be there before Thanksgiving.

Poor guy. He's 89, with some serious health problems, and she expects him to drive her down in her car with her cat. It's 1600 miles. The poor kitty cried for most of the trip back to Michigan last spring. I begged her to give him the kitty valium she got from the vet. She just kept saying, "he'll settle down in a while." Argh!

She expects him to "stay as long as I tell him to." He told me that he hasn't decided how long he'll stay. He doesn't think she has any problems, and I'm starting to wonder if he's all there. If she acts the same way she did on the trip home last spring, he'll bail before long. Then she'd be up a creek because she can't be there alone.

It's hard to do on so many levels. It takes away her independence and essentially, I will become like a parent to her. I know this will destroy our relationship. I can't let that get in the way - someone has to look out for her. There are no other relatives.

I'm not as much of basket case as I expected. Tonight, I'm gonna get some extra lovin' from my "girls" and my kitty.