I heard this story tonight on NPR and had to look it up and spread the word. It's so amazingly touching. I highly recommend a listen:
"After the Forgetting"
Producer Erica Heilman brings us this story of how a Vermont family changes as the mother's dementia progresses. What happens to love when there is no memory? An evolution of relationships reveal themselves in these conversations between Gregory Sharrow, his mother Marjorie and Greg's husband Bob Hooker.
(I found this comment on the NPR page about Marjorie in her younger days: "I know (knew?) Marj...she is a friend of my parents. She always had the best stories about her travels with her husband, like getting attacked by monkeys while on a safari. I always liked going over to her house because she had drawer upon drawer of costume jewelry. She is also a terrific painter. I still have a note she wrote me about meeting Houdini when she was a child. I was so sad to hear about her memory loss, but I hear that it hasn't changed her attitude towards life. She has always been such an upbeat soul. Thanks to Greg for taking such good care of her.")
More information about this piece can be found at Transom.
1 comment:
thanks for the passing this along--both of my grandfathers have dementia and some members of my family have such a hard time being around them. i think it's hard for people to take on new relationships with people they have known their entire lives but at the same time its touching to hear that those relationships, although different and difficult, can be better than you ever imagined.
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