Posted on

My Best Source of Stress Relief

Because there are greater demands placed on me during this late stage of Kate’s Alzheimer’s, I experience more stress now than at earlier stages. The good news is that Kate is my greatest source of stress relief. I cannot say enough good things about her.

She is happy. That isn’t obvious every moment of the day, but she displays her happiness numerous times daily with her smile. She often smiles in her sleep. Sometimes she talks when she is apparently dreaming. These conversations (at least her part) are usually cheerful, and she sometimes laughs during them.

Our conversations are most important to me. They occur mostly in the evening after the caregiver leaves, but we also have them at other times of the day. These two occurred after I returned home from lunch on Saturday afternoon.

Posted on

Our Anniversary Celebration

To celebrate our anniversary last night, I arranged for a wheelchair-accessible van and took Kate out to dinner at a restaurant where we had shared many special moments since the early seventies.

Alzheimer’s makes it impossible to predict how she will respond in situations like that, but she rose to the occasion. Her best times are in the late afternoon, and she was smiling before we left. She was cheerful throughout the dinner and after returning home.

Her most difficult times are in the morning, but lately she has been waking up with a big smile. That happened this morning. It looks like another nice day for us. I wish the same for you.  

Posted on

Our 62nd Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my wife, Kate. After all of these years, I can’t imagine finding a better match. Our marriage has been the adventure of a lifetime. It really began shortly after our first date on December 19, 1961, when I was in need of money and took a job as an ambulance driver at a funeral home.

Our whole courtship centered around my responsibilities at the funeral home. I worked four nights a week, which handicapped my time for dating. On slow nights, I invited her to the funeral home where we spent the evening in one of the unoccupied viewing rooms.

Periodically, I had to go out of town to pick up a body. She would go with me, and I was on the company expense account. We always found a good steakhouse before picking up the body and driving back home.

At the time, neither of us thought much about this. We were in love, and that was all that mattered. Of course, the most challenging adventure of all has been “Living with Alzheimer’s”. Thankfully, we have lived joyfully despite those challenges. Our love for each other has been a powerful source of strength for both of us, and I am optimistic that our love will sustain us for the remainder of our journey together.