October 16, 2006
Memory Monday
My paternal grandfather, Florian, passed away July 10, 1999, on my father’s birthday. He had dementia/alzheimer’s and I remember him slowly digressing back through the years. I remember that he forgot names and dates. I remember the pain on my dad’s face, knowing his own father didn’t recognize him. I remember that as the years went by my grandpa almost never spoke at all. He just stared out the window of his room at the nursing home. I remember wondering what he was thinking. What kinds of thoughts were going through his mind? I remember that my grandpa could not remember.
I don’t know why after all these years I’m thinking of Grandpa. I have an idea, but I’m not sure. My maternal grandmother Alice passed away December 6 of last year. It has only been less than a year since God called her home. She was the grandparent who outlived them all. Even her own siblings. Alice was an amazing woman. I adored her strength very much. I miss her.
In April of 2004, my maternal grandmother Helen passed away. She was a spitefire. Never took any guff from anyone. Always spoke her mind no matter what anyone thought. She told me to stand up tall and be proud of who I was and where I came from.
My paternal grandfather Adolph died before I was born in March of 1978. Two months before my mother wed my father. I was barely a glimmer in my mother’s eye. But I have a hunch that Grandpa Adolph is my guardian angel. My father speaks so highly of his father-in-law that I can only imagine that Adolph was a great man.
As I remember my grandparents and their lives, the stories I’ve been told by them and about them, I realize how precious my memories are.
Grandpa Florian, somehow, almost amazingly divulged his memories when he couldn’t grasp the present. Those memories were all he had left when his mind began to deteriorate, so-to-speak. When he couldn’t recognize present time, his mind was like a time capsule. All the stories of his younger days came pouring out. I listened intently to him talk about his childhood as if he were living that particular day in history, right then and there.
While I was young and thought he was going crazy, while it was painful to know he had no clue I was his granddaughter, I listened and learned. I only wish I’d have recorded his memoir. I wish I’d have spent more time with Alice, Helen and Florian before time passed and they left this world for eternity.
While there is no cure for alzheimer’s disease at this time, there are little things we can do to strengthen our minds and bodies to hopefully avoid this difficult condition.
Writing and blogging are wonderful tools to strengthen our cognitive skills. Having an eye exam each year may detect the disease early enough to obtain adequate medical treatment. Avoiding stress and worry is also suggested. Take out those photo albums, too! Studies show that individuals who enjoy their photos and revisit their photo albums (and the memories associated with them) help strengthen their memory which may reduce the risk of acquiring the disease. Lastly, and most obviously, taking care of your physical health is important. My own goal is to stop smoking, lower my cholesterol and blood pressure and watch my borderline diabetic condition. My doctor explained that all these factors may contribute to dimentia and alzheimer’s disease, and the diseases are generally hereditary. If you have a family history of dimentia or alzheimer’s disease, I encourage you to learn more by visiting the Alzheimer’s Association website.
In honor of Grandpa Florian, I dedicate each Monday as Memory Monday and I hope to share a new memory from my own life every week. I’m blessed to have discovered blogging as an outlet to express myself and to create my own piece of history, a kind of “memory legacy” to leave my children and grandchildren. And who knows, maybe my mind will become stronger and alzheimer’s will never take my mind away from me. I will remember to remember.
Won’t you join me? Share your memories with us and please link to your post in the comments section!
Posted by Dana @ 12:01 AM • Uncategorized
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October 16th, 2006 at 9:41 PM, WHW Says:
A wonderful idea. Thanks for giving me the awareness to stop and think a little, too.
Once I collect some thoughts I will come back and post a link.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:07 AM, The Dana Files » Memory Monday - Grandma Loved JFK Says:
[...] In honor of Memory Monday, I thought it would be fitting to share my first memories of politics with Election Day being tomorrow. [...]
August 13th, 2007 at 9:13 AM, The Dana Files » Too Tired To Think Says:
[...] yesterday was my grandfather, Florian’s birthday. He would have been ninety-four years old. I can’t help but miss him. He loved his [...]