I am grateful that I did not run from this disease and took the opportunity to do things with my Mom while she still could.  Memories of our two big hiking trips will always be with me.  If my Mom had not been diagnosed I never would have made the time to do things with her.  One day I would have received a call that my busy healthy Mom was gone and would grieve what could have been.  Alzheimer’s forced me to, Do it NOW!

When Mom was first diagnosed we had gone for a hike in the hills close to home.  We were sitting on a rock enjoying the view and contemplating the future.  Mom had always been interested in eastern religions and I said that now more than ever she would be living in the moment. Savoring each sunrise for the first time.  I was still fighting the diagnosis and hoped it was wrong but the only way to a definitive diagnosis was a brain cross-section autopsy.  We both agreed that was a drastic measure for the peace of mind that certainty brings and passed on the procedure.

Of course that early conversation filled with laughter did not prepare my Mother for the moment when she knew I was her child but had no recollection of me as an infant.  How can you forget your baby?  We had gone on our second big hiking trip when that hit her.  We howled together and held each other close as I tried to give her through my love a sense that I was hers.  Fortunately she also forgot what she forgot so with time the disease is kinder.