Lois' day job is as president of Foghound, a leadership development firm that works with some of the largest companies in the world.
Up until a year ago Lois had no training to be a care giver. Heck, when her now teenaged son was a baby she couldn’t even help him when he was sick to his stomach.
When Lois’ mother Bette learned she had terminal cancer she said she wanted to spend her final months at home on Cape Cod. Lois was the only one of her six siblings who had the flexibility to work remotely, so she volunteered to move down to the Cape to be with Bette during the week for the duration. (Her three amazing sisters, two brothers, aunt and sister-in-law were the weekend caregiver warriors.) Lois started writing Be the Noodle as a blog to keep her family up to date on what was happening with their mother. Lois also wrote the blog to help stay sane.
Before she died Bette urged Lois to turn it into a book. Like all dutiful daughters, she did what her mother asked. (Except for that one request, explained in Chapter 39, "Morphine & Moral Dilemmas."
Bette Kelly
Bette Kelly, the inspiration for Be the Noodle, was the mother of six children born in eight years, wife, sister, aunt, and friend to many. She lived most of her life in Arlington, Mass. a suburb of Boston, but was able to spend what she called some of the best years of her life, including the end of her life, at Cape Cod's Popponesset Beach in Mashpee, Mass. Bette taught us how to live life, which included how to die with gratefulness, acceptance, and appreciation of the small things that can make a day a good day.
