Communicating Effectively

Before my wife, Linda, became a resident at Legacy Village, I, along with my family and paid caregivers, were able to meet all of her physical needs; however, the picture accompanying today’s blog, taken last week at a luau, vividly illustrates what I could not provide her – a social life with her peers, and... Continue Reading →

Celebrating Abundant Life

In three days, Linda and I will have been married for fifty-nine years. Recently, a new appreciation of this milestone has captured my attention. It cannot be understood apart from Jesus’ clearly drawn distinction between two opposing realities: The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its... Continue Reading →

Developing Endurance

The view from atop Lookout Mountain is breathtaking; however, the picture accompanying today’s blog has even greater significance. It was taken in October 2015 and in many ways serves as a timeline for measuring the increasing severity of Linda’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. In previous weeks, I have covered these events in detail. Therefore, in keeping... Continue Reading →

Refusing to Give Up

Looks can be very deceiving! That is certainly true of the picture accompanying today’s blog, which was taken twenty days ago. Linda appears to be a very beautiful and healthy eighty-one-year-old lady. She is certainly very beautiful; however, she is not healthy. Helplessly, I have watched as Alzheimer’s has moved from being an inconvenience to... Continue Reading →

Exhausting My Options

Reflecting on the wonderful day that Linda and I enjoyed on July 27, I ended last week’s blog on a positive note: “... I cannot understand why, against the backdrop of so many painful memories, God chose to break the pattern and bring me such joy.”  Since then, after watching her struggle with recurring episodes... Continue Reading →

Breaking the Pattern

Linda and I have always believed that true happiness is found when we embrace life as a process: fear God, live out His precepts, and love that which He loves. Obviously, the truth and beauty of all this was challenged when Alzheimer’s slowly took away Linda’s ability to provide fun moments for family gatherings, rejoice... Continue Reading →

Adapting to the Moment — Updated

Linda became a resident at Legacy Village on October 1, 2018. Nearly two years later, while preparing to post my first blog, I wrote: In the last two years, as the lights of this world have grown dimmer for Linda, the lights of Heaven are growing brighter. She talks often of wanting to go live... Continue Reading →

Connecting Past and Future (part 3)

In the picture accompanying today’s blog, which was taken last Tuesday, Linda is obviously happy and at peace; however, this idyllic scene captures only a brief moment in a rapidly changing day. She had been agitated and combative in the early morning, refused to take a shower, and ultimately received only a sponge bath. Shortly... Continue Reading →

Connecting Past and Future (part 2)

The picture accompanying today’s blog tells a story and hints that another one is yet to come. Linda and her three sisters were preparing to sing at their parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary on August 7, 1987.  I did not fathom that thirty-five years later, the beautiful blue polka dot dress Linda was wearing would play a... Continue Reading →

Connecting Past and Future (part 1)

Looking through family albums allows me to chronicle my life with Linda as it has unfolded over our long marriage. The picture accompanying today’s blog was taken in front of the little hotel where we stayed on Martha’s Vineyard in October 2012. At that time, Alzheimer’s was slowly moving from a minor inconvenience as I... Continue Reading →

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