... after hesitatingfor about a month, trying to guess how Joan will be a few months down the road, I told myself "to hell with it. Go for it, big guy!" Accordingly, I have booked a two-week trip in February back to Maui which we visited two years ago ago. Last year, at my nephew's strong urging, we went to Kauai, instead. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to manage with Joan two months from now at Maui. I doubt her she will have declined drastically before then. Yes, she's incontinent. Yes, she gets easily confused about where she is and who she meets. Yes, she cannot read and can't follow a complicated TV plot or situation. But I can and I am managing all those behaviours. No, a Home Care persons won't come in every morning to shower her, dress her, brush her teeth and hair and change her Depends diaper. But until I was strongly encouraged to involve a personal care attendant from Alberta Home Care, I already did all that stuff without feeling overwhelmed or "burned out". We'll stay in a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Lahaina, Maui's main centre. Using B&Bs is how we prefer to travel. Joan will do much better in such a small, intimate setting than in a big, often-noisy, condo or hotel setting. Managing her clothes in balmy Maui will be easy. The B&B has communal, cooking, refrigerator and laundry facilities andis hosted by very knowledgeable long-time residents of Maui. I get excited about watching the maternal humpback whales frolic close to shore and spotting big green turtles grazing on the rocks at the oceans's edge. I have my own snorkel gear and plan to buy a pair of 'slit fin' fins to paddle about in the surf while keeping a wary eye on Joan as she soaks up some rays and the ambience on the beach...