Alzheimers 'r us

We married at 19, had our first child at 20 followed by three more by the time we were 29. I always liked girls (I had a mother, a sister and a pair of grandmothers I adored) and having a beautiful wife and 4 wonderful daughters was surely heaven on earth.

We were busy, we went to school, I learned a trade, we worked and I went to school some more. Eventually, when I was 49, after taking classes part time for 14 years, I graduated from college. Three years later I earned an MFA in fine art. The redhead got her art degree soon after. She finished the course work for a Masters degree.

It was good, the girls had gone away from home with our blessings, had married and had children of their own (4 grandsons in a row). We went off to Texas to do graduate work. I wanted to be a college teacher.

When we finished, I couldn’t find a teaching job, but the redhead was offered a job as an illustrator for a medical publishing company. The company had just relocated from the Seattle area to the SE corner of Washington state.

She loved that job and worked very hard at it. She was good and produced a flood of really nice art work for their publications.

Then one day they called her in: resign or we will fire you.

She was devastated.

One of our daughters had worked for the same company earlier and knew the owners. “This is not like mom.” They graciously extended Miriam’s medical insurance so tests could be done to see if there was something wrong.

Blood. Scans. A day with a shrink. Then do it over in a few months

No one actually used the Alzheimer’s word for a long time. Doctors have lawyers too, but the whole message was bad and worse. For the 3rd time in my adult life, I put my head down and cried.

I read, and did research. It was not good. Some AD patients went from diagnosis to nursing homes in months, some longer. Some have gone on for 20 years. My redhead, the cornerstone of my whole life was going away and I cried deep bitter tears.

That was in 1999.

And that is who we are. An adoring old husband/father/grandfather cogitating/remembering and dreaming as old guys do.