April 2010
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ALZHEIMER’S & THE GIFT OF FORGETTING
“Only ONCE did Granny say to me during her Alzheimer’s years, “I think I am losing my memory.” It was towards the end, in the middle of that period when she was wearing a diaper and I was re-instructing her on how to use a spoon. She didn’t even know my name and my first… Read more
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BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
“There is not one, single moment of one, single day that I would ever want to live over. not even the first kiss my husband gave me–that Malibu night, as waves crashed against the sand and my heart felt like a thousand stars imploding–could lure me back.” Read more
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GRANNY’S ONE-SENTENCE MARRIAGE ADVICE
“Though I didn’t know it then, I was walking into wedded bliss with a slew of needs I didn’t even know I had! It started with the toilet seat. I needed it to be down when I stumbled into the bathroom in the dead of night and had to go. I did not expect to… Read more
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MEANING, MESSAGES AND MERMAIDS
My 13 year-old still likes me to tell her stories at night. Trust me, after the first few years of doing this I ran out of ideas–and yet–somehow they still come. Often they involve animals or mermaids (since I AM one), but ALWAYS they have a message. This is NOT intentional on my part. … Read more
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THE HUMOR OF ALZHEIMER’S
“There’s nothing funny about Alzheimer’s,” the woman in the audience told me. “It’s just awful–every single part of it–just awful.” As I recall I had just shared some funny moments my husband and I had spent with my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s for the 13 years she lived in our home. Keep in mind, I… Read more
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SIX YEAR-OLD SHARES SECRET OF LIFE
“I was raised by a grandmother who believed you should put your heart in the moment. She never looked back or too far forward and it drove me crazy……….. Read more
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IF YOU CAN’T LAUGH ABOUT IT, YOU’LL JUST CRY
“30 years ago I saw myself on TV for the first time and was absolutely floored. It had nothing to do with my ill-fitting outfit or the strange way I had done my hair with barrettes that stuck out at weird angles…I never stopped smiling.” Read more
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KISSING YOUR TOMATOES!
“When I think about it, though, it really is the ‘little things’ in life that often make the deepest impressions on us. For the last few years, when my husband gets up before I do, he makes me a cup of coffee and leaves it on the counter. Even though he has done this at… Read more
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YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS
“Although it is very, very dark in the deep recesses of my curvy little cerebellum, I AM what I Think. Don’t argue with me because I have been around long enough to know the concrete, crystalline truth of that statement.” Read more
AGEFULLY AGING 