ALZHEIMER'S BLOG:

January is a very busy month for us. At first it was my mothers birthday. Than I married Jimmy and my mother had to share her birthday month with my husband and his father. As the years went by I ended up having two children in January. Than as my children got married I have a son in law with his birthday in January.

My father in law had one of the best birthday presents a father would ever want to have. His first born was born on his birthday. So when Jimmy and I were first married, we all ways celebrated my father in laws and Jimmy's birthday together.

Today we celebrated the birthdays in the month of January. It is great to see my children get older, and to enjoy my husband still here with me as we enjoy the gift of life together. My father in law is missed though. It says in the Bible there is a time to live and a time to die. So death is a part of life that we have to accept. So I am so glad that I have wonderful memories of my father in law. I have albums of pictures with life as we knew it when we were young, and dad was himself, helping around the house, and visiting us no matter what state we moved to. It is those memories that keep us going. It is the memories of the end of days with my father in law that helps me try to make my children know how important it is to be close, to stay close, and to not depend on us forever. It also is a tale to tell how important to enjoy the gift of life NOW.

While you are morning your loved one that may have passed away from this terrible disease, please remember the good times. Remember that we can't have life without death. Remember life is a gift and we need to make the best of it. Every moment is special, it may be our last, so make it count.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press An Imprint of James A Rock Pub., Co.
www.mariefostino.com