Maybe I should be thankful to the threat of Alzheimer's. It reminds me to live life as fully as I can. Or, as Gwendolyn Brooks writes, "conduct your blooming in the noise and the whip of the whirlwind."
Alzheimer's Reading Room
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| Patrick T. Reardon |
Patrick is a baby boomer and with great frequency boomers are going to wonder, a senior moment or the start of something more serious?
This will be especially true of boomers who have parents or relatives living with dementia.
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Patrick described his moment of forgetting in this way.
The other day, I was talking with some friends about movies, and somehow the conversation got onto the film “Elf.”
There was a point I wanted to make about the actor who played Will Farrell’s father in the movie, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember his name.
I knew he’d played Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather.” And Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song.” And Hugh Grant’s future father-in-law in “Mickey Blue Eyes.” But his name escaped me.
I tried various mental tricks, such as running through the alphabet and trying out various first names, until finally after what seemed like a long time but was probably only — only? — 10 seconds I remembered he’s James Caan.
He finally went on to reflect.
The threat of Alzheimer's is a reminder to me to tell my wife I love her, to enjoy the play of shadows against the brick wall across the yard, to drop everything and drive my son to the airport.
Maybe I should be thankful to the threat of Alzheimer's. It reminds me to live life as fully as I can. Or, as Gwendolyn Brooks writes, "conduct your blooming in the noise and the whip of the whirlwind."
I found this to be a wonderful and uplifting article and perspective.
Go here to read all of Waiting For Alzheimer's
To learn more about Patrick, read more of his works, and to visit his blog -- go here.
- How Alzheimer's Spreads Throughout the Brain
- Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Self Assessment Tests)
- What is Alzheimer's Disease?
- What is Dementia?
- What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
- Communicating in Alzheimer's World
- How the Loss of Memory Works in Alzheimer’s Disease, and How Understanding This Could Help You
- Learning How to Communicate with Someone Suffering From Alzheimer's Disease
- Alzheimer's World -- Trying to Reconnect with Someone Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease
- Does the Combination of Aricept and Namenda Help Slow the Rate of Decline in Alzheimer's Patients
- Driving with Alzheimer's Can Mean Death
- About the Alzheimer's Reading Room
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