Anticipation, not of the Carly Simon variety

Tomorrow I will be meeting with my mother and brother for an intervention of sorts. Everyone who knows my mother is convinced that she is in serious need of extra help in the house. She is alone for 18 hours each day and the most frightening part of it is that she cooks on a gas stove and takes a shower BY HERSELF! She always insists that she's fine with these parts of her life, but considering her failing eyesight and forgetfulness of increasing magnitude we are all convinced that these are ingredients in a recipe for disaster.

So, tomorrow my brother and I will try to sweeten this monumental change in our fiercely independent mother's life by making it sound like she probably could use a "visit" from someone a few times a week. In actuality, I believe that if only my brother would "visit" and really help out, this change in her life could be postponed, but I am going onto a tangent that probably needs another blog! So, herein lies the dilemma--how do we sugarcoat this talk? Our mother is not stupid, nor is she completely demented--she will completely understand what we're proposing.
She will know that this is yet another step in lost independence and she will probably get very angry. How do we manage to get her the help that she needs in order to be safe, without pulling the rug out from underneath her and take away her will to live?

I am convinced that we need to do this, I just pray for divine intervention in guiding me to be patient and strong. Somehow when I needed to have these traits as a mother or teacher, I found them easily accessible to me--there was always an inside voice that helped guide me through the process. I seek that voice now, but it often alludes me--being a parent to a parent is not for the weak!