Ally K. - My Tribute to Daddy

My Daddy passed away from Alz in 1996..I wrote this in tribute to him the Fathers Day 0f 1996, later that week he passed away. I didnt know at the time I when wrote this, that I would someday have the right venue to share my feelings of what I was going through. I hope this helps someone out there who is living through this nightmare now as a caregiver and son or daughter of your loving Daddy. There is a stranger I've come to know... He started showing up about five years ago. He was subtle in his arrival

How do I change what I say?

A few months ago one of my friends mentioned that I am always talking about things related to Alzheimer’s. While I know I spend my days advocating for this disease I did not realize I was that bad. Especially with those I am not trying to convince or influence. Although I appreciate the person telling me, it has really bothered me. I started to give it some thought and tried to understand why and what I could do to change that. Not too long after that my wife made a similar comment, and that really hit home because their comments

My Promises

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on Karen's personal blog ' Missing Jim' TO FRANCES AND BRAD, MY BEAUTIFUL, LOVING, INTELLIGENT CHILDREN: My promises to you: I promise to try to stay sane through this whole long process. Sometimes I don’t feel like I will be able to, but when I am with you, I know I can. I promise to love you with all of my heart. Loving someone doesn’t mean giving them ice cream and chocolate every day. I promise to love your Dad too, even when he makes me want to pull my hair out and go

For Mom, My Heroine, on Mother’s Day

My mother had a cleft palate. It was fixed when she was three years-old, and you could never tell anything was wrong by looking at her, but it left her with two impediments: her speech and her mother. Because of my mom’s speech impediment, my grandmother told my mom she would probably never get married. Really? Is that the way you bolster your child’s self-confidence? Maybe she thought she was protecting her daughter from the harsh realities of life. To me, it felt like my grandmother was priming my mother for failure. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so judgmental. I mean

Shouting from Mountain Tops

May is a special month for me: Everest and Mother’s Day. The connection is significant. I summited Everest in May and Mother’s Day, well, it is Mother's Day. Ida Arnette, my mom, was the memory keeper for her extended family. With my mom’s eight brothers and sisters, there was a lot to track. Mom did it all while raising two sons, working full time and still finding time to cook amazing holiday dinners and an out-of-this world pecan pie. So the day my mom looked up from her steaming coffee cup and said with a look I will never forget