Mother’s Day

Synopsis: This story comes from the need to understand what happens when one of your favorite people, your best friend, your rock, or your mother, starts acting differently than you have ever witnessed.Alzheimer’s disease happens to other people, not your family. The stories you hear about from your friends as you empathize with their fate in life; a story you would never want to be a part of until it actually happens, and your world will never be the same.It’s only a glimpse into the real happenings of the events that transpire into a universe where you feel all alone. You search for the answers without knowing the real questions to ask. Your life begins to reel, and the journey begins without your say in the matter as to where it may end.Autobiography: Candice Shipley resides in Covington, GA, with her husband, Phil, and her two dogs, Luna and Deuce. They live on a ten-acre working farm with sheep, chickens and a large garden along with blueberry bushes, many fruit trees, a pond and a creek.She worked at Jim Ellis Porsche and Audi of Atlanta for eight years when learning her mother had a brain tumor and had to be hospitalized. Her mother lived in Maryville, TN, where she had been raised as a child before moving to Decatur, GA, where she had her seventh child, Candice. The news of her mother’s condition was frightening. After spending thirteen weeks in ICU, her mother, after a miracle witnessed by many, would have to learn to walk again, but that was just the beginning of the journey. Candice, without hesitation, would have to leave her beloved career to help care for her mother.With the help of her two sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles she would have to start her life over again as well. She always loved playing with her dolls’ hair as a child and that love turned into another career set for her as she attended beauty school after she had settled in Maryville. She has owned and worked at several salons: Candy Kitchens Hair and Nail Salon in Maryville, TN; All About You Hair and Nails, Maryville, TN; and the Willow Boutique and Salon in Social Circle, GA.She has since retired and has ventured into another passion of hers. She started writing her stories in forms of poetry and into non-fiction books as a form of therapy and self-help. She hopes that her experiences will help someone that may possibly be going through the same things in life. After all, so many people are going through what life throws them but in fact; we are never alone.