Today is much like the day in this photo. The sun shines brightly and fiercely. The sky wears its best blue. Winter grips us tightly enough, teasing those of us who live in the South with its power to turn into a deathly reality. The difference in today and the day of this photo is… Read more
Imagine this. You awaken in the morning and have no idea where you are, who are or who any of the people around you are. And that not knowing did not go away as the day progressed. It lasted all day. Alzheimer’s Disease does this to its victims. The Alzheimer’s Association aptly designates today—June 20… Read more
Without saying a word, Mother handed me a valentine she had received. It was handmade, but childish. Construction paper, crayon colors drawn in odd shapes, hearts glued wherever, signature scrawled. Emotions surfaced quickly inside me, spanning the range of what was humanly possible—sadness, revulsion, anger—anything but love and happiness. My father had made the valentine… Read more
May 30, 1431, Joan de Arc was burned at the stake. This is significant to our family. Fast-forward a few years to the early 1990’s and a rising third grader. During the summer, my son discovered Joan of Arc—through a video game, I recall—and his was intrigued. He came to me, asking if there were… Read more
“Tell me about when I was born.” An unusual request from my only sibling. But a legitimate one since my sister is almost 10 years younger. On a sister’s weekend, we had just settled onto our comfy beds in our room at the beach. Driving rain pelted our windows, roaring waves pounded the beach and… Read more
You see them in every thrift shop, junk store and consignment store you visit. Boxes, baskets, trays filled with photos, and not just any photos but personal ones from years gone by. They fascinate me. With something of a compulsion, I stop and rummage through the current offerings. What am I expecting when I do… Read more
“Jennifer reads too many library books” wasn’t the only comment my elementary school teachers regularly wrote on my report cards. The other was “Jennifer talks too much.” I absorbed these comments as failures. But, through the intervening years when these comments resurfaced, I gradually decided what they wrote was not what they meant. One can… Read more
An aide at the Veterans Administration Nursing Home where my father was cared for the last year of his life told me something that broke my heart. My father was at the VA because he had Alzheimer’s. Earlier, when he had been fully himself, he had said many times to us he did not want to… Read more