Life goes on. Our loved ones pass and it’s a day, a week, a year. Before we know it, it’s 21 years since we last kissed their cheek, as it is with my mother.

Our loved ones are frozen in time. We remember them just as we saw them last. But we keep growing older, and life keeps happening. We remain among the living, and we do just that. We live.

Although for some, it’s not so easy to regroup after the loss. Especially when a couple is older, it can be nearly impossible to redesign a new life without the beloved partner. Ill health and the limitations of advanced age can make creating a meaningful future challenging. For those widows/widowers, days tend to be longer and lonelier.

Fortunately, I’ve had a full, productive, and happy schedule with work, family, and friends since my husband, Marshall’s, passing last year (March 8, 2019). I think of him every day but not usually with tears as it was over the decade and a half that Alzheimer’s devoured my vibrant husband. It was a very, long heartbreaking good-bye, as Alzheimer’s disease is often referred to. Now, I just want to leave the sad days in the past and only recall the love and sweet words he blessed me with.

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(Photo: Marshall Brodien, 2008)

For more information on Alzheimer’s disease and its affect on family caregivers, read Navigating Alzheimer’s, The Alzheimer’s Spouse.

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Upcoming Presentations:

• 3/17/20 –”From Home to Managed Care,” Arden Courts of Avon, CT
• 3/18/20–”From Home to Managed Care,”Arden Courtsof Farmington,CT
• 3/26/20 –”Navigating Alzheimer’s,” Arden Courts of Geneva, IL
• 4/2/20– “Navigating Alzheimer’s” Inter-Faith Chapel, Silver Springs,MD