Memory Issues

For those who do not know me I am a realtor in southern Maine and Seacoast NH. So here is a story from my days as marketing director for a retirement/assisted living community.

The saddest things is loss of memory in a loved one. I can't tell you how devastated families feel over this affliction. Only that I have sat with them, and cried with them, and tried to ease their pain by just being there. Often times the elderly person is the least affected because they are in their own world. But the people left behind are the ones that truly suffer.

One woman I worked with had a husband with Alzheimer's who was rapidly deteriorating. There was little trauma for him and he was busy making friends in the assisted living and pushing people around in their wheelchairs. He had always been a very kind man and felt he needed to continue to help these people who could not walk. It was very moving to see him.

His wife on the other hand was devasted and in mourning for the loss of her husband and her life as she knew it. Each day she would come to visit and cry before she came in so she could be strong for us and him. To speak with her was so painful because she loved her husband so deeply and knew he would no longer be that husband to her, yet he was still very much alive.

Living apart from him was a whole new life for her. I will never forget her strength and courage. She fought to find him the right setting and wrote to her congresswoman and to get what she needed for him. Never underestimate the power of love. It was amazing to witness and I learned so much from her, how strong we can be when the time comes. Oh, and he was only 70 years old. So they were young and going through this.

Please contact me at susan.dequattro@verani.com