Alzheimer's
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MEMORIES ARE MADE IN THE ROOMS OF THE MIND
“All week, trucks have been dumping appliances, stoves, A/C units, warped bookshelves, stain-soaked draperies and bed frames. Standing lamps and chairs stick out of these gargantuan piles like broken arms and legs. Newscasters sound amazed when they report, “There’s been no looting.” But the truth is, there is nothing salvageable to steal.” Read more
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NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
“We will likely not even be here when our girls reach the age we are now. I have done the math. So I have to hope that the world they are aging into will one day embrace the wrinkles, the mottled skin and the dementias. For it does not now, and the gap between our… Read more
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OLD FOLKS & ARTICHOKES
“When Granny first taught me how to eat an artichoke, I was perturbed that I had to go through all those layers of armor just to get to that mushroom cap of a heart. Frankly, at 13, i thought the best part was the butter dipping.” Read more
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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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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 