This blog is about life with my husband who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's and Frontal Lobe Dementia in 2008. He was 64 at the time although now, knowing more about the disease, Alzheimer's was present many, many years ago, which is why early detection is so important. As you read the blog the character "Al" that I created in 2008, represents the way that Alzheimer's is invading our daily lives.
There is an archive tab further down the page that starts from the beginning of our journey.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Living with Bob and "Al"

Sheri is remembering a time when in effort to help their niece visit her recently deceased mother's grave, Sheri and Bob went to the cemetery to shovel the snow off of the flat grave stone. Because it was a fairly new stone Sheri and Bob could not find it in the cemetery and being winter in the frozen tundra, there was a good 1 and 1/2 feet of snow blanketing the cemetery.Their niece was coming from down south and they knew she would not be able to find it either. Sheri and Bob knew how much it meant to their niece since she would be in town, so Bob began to shovel. They were certain they were in the right area, so one by one they began to uncover the other flat markers. Each time they were disappointed when it was not his sisters name. Soon both Sheri and Bob began to shovel, each time Bob would look up and with much conviction, try to determine how close it might be, and each time Bob was convinced that the next one was for sure it. They eventually found it and by that time they were exhausted and so happy their niece would be able to visit her mothers grave that the somberness of what they were doing soon gave way to an outburst of laughter because much time had past, and it was getting dark. As they stood and looked around, the hours of shoveling had resulted in an almost entire section of the cemetery being cleared of snow. As they embraced each other in tears of happiness they looked up to see the small gathering of people that lived in the house next door to the cemetery gathered in their window observing them.... embarrassed, Sheri and Bob quietly gathered their shovels and got in their car and went home. One of Sheri's favorite memories :)

3 comments:

  1. What a sweet story. One of those unforgettable moments in time.

    All the best--
    Sandy

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  2. Many smiles after reading that. Thank you for sharing. Sue

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  3. You are both such good people! That was a sweet memory and an ever sweeter thing to do for your niece! Blessings, Karen

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