Mother Lode
Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver

Mother Lode should be required reading for anyone thinking of taking on in-home caretaking of an elderly parent. Gretchen Staebler leaves her own home in North Carolina and travels to the Pacific Northwest to care for her ninety-six-year-old mother so that she might remain in the home that retains o......more

When her ninety-six-year-old mother’s health appears to be reaching its final stage of decline, Gretchen Staebler agrees to leave her life in Raleigh, North Carolina, and move back to her childhood home in the small town of Centralia, Washington, to look after her. The idea is that Staebler will spe......more

This memoir is an incredible read—poignant, provocative, bittersweet—and inevitably very loving. I laughed and cried all through it. Staebler crosses the country to her childhood home to live with and care for her elderly (old-old…past 95 when she starts!) mother for a year and the best laid plans….......more

I loved the book.. the honesty and frankness - A great guidebook for caregivers and for us approaching that time of needing caregivers. Gretchen took on a task and stayed the course with twists and turns along the way..the journey was longer than expected and I think more than she expected it to be.......more

I was an early reader of Mother Lode, and have just finished the final product. It is a remarkable memoir of a year that became a decade. Gretchen Staebler moved to her home town to care for her aging mother, leaving a whole life behind, and not being sure what she would find. This beautifully writt......more