This is my Mother.
This photo was taken a lifetime ago by her dad, my beloved Poppop. I cherish this picture because it captures her during one of our family vacations, when she was in the prime of her life—vibrant and healthy, and decades before Alzheimer's would steal her memories and her mind would turn against her.
This photo beautifully captures her warmth, her kindness, her joy, and her spirit. It hangs on my wall so I can look at it every day and be reminded of all that she was to me and everyone who knew her.
Looking at her blue eyes and smiling face, I am transported back to that time and it's as if I am sitting right next to her.
I can clearly hear her voice and infectious laugh.
I can hear the ocean waves crashing against the shore several yards away.
I can hear my family members gathering on the deck, sharing stories, and enjoying each other’s company.
This was a special time in our lives.
Fast forward many years later and Alzheimer’s has stolen my Mom’s existence and her humanity. It has taken her memory and her ability to communicate.
Without warning, it has cruelly cut her life short.
While writing these words feels like a knife to my heart, I have chosen to turn my heartache into a mission to share my Mom’s life, story, and legacy. As her narrator and her voice, I will tell you who she was as a human being, mother, wife, and friend.
It is also my mission to shed light on my Mom's Alzheimer's diagnosis and how we have navigated this journey as a family. Unfortunately, it is a disease that isn’t talked about a lot, and so I am driven to remove the stigma around it and to start conversations - sharing insights, perspectives, and support so that others who are on the same path feel less alone.
This website is an invitation to connect as humans, to share and relate with each other, and to form a community and a sense of belonging.
My Mom was all of these things. She was community and connection. She was love and kindness. She brought people together and made them feel seen, supported, and safe. That is what I wish for this community to be. With that, I invite you into the following pages with an open and grateful heart.
This space is dedicated to my beautiful Mom Linda and all the angels among us who did not get the opportunity to continue their stories.
Thank you for keeping my Mom’s legacy alive. Thank you for learning about Alzheimer’s disease. Thank you for supporting those who are currently living with the disease, and for those whose lives were lost to it. My Mom and her life will not be an afterthought, and neither will the countless others who have lost their precious lives to this awful disease.
We will never forget them.
May we live in a time when this disease is eradicated, where there is no more suffering, and where the gift of time and memories with loved ones endures.
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