The love of my life has died: How can I ever be free to live again?
- Thread starter basilio
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wayneL
VIVA LA LIBERTAD, CARAJO!
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38 years for Mrs L and me, and over 40 years together. Can't contemplate her going home before me, and can't contemplate leaving her in this 541thole alone.
I hope we somehow trot off into the ether together.
I hope we somehow trot off into the ether together.
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Strange story.
www.abc.net.au
This psychologist groomed her client, then married her. Now 20 years of deception are coming undone
Vanessa trusted her psychologist – then she married her. Three years after her death, her family want answers.
www.abc.net.au
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I thought this story and similar ones were worth citing in this thread. If you are dealing with Azheimers with friends or family (as most of us are) it is well worth a read
After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.
By Michael Tobin
December 27, 2023
Over 400 readers entered our second-ever Free Press Essay contest, where we asked those over 70 to tell us about a pivotal time in their life—and the wisdom they gleaned from it. We received essays from 47 states and 10 countries, including from writers in Italy, South Africa, and China. We were blown away.
It took many weeks, and more than a few editors debating late into the night, to whittle down the pile.
Yesterday, you heard from our runners-up: Cheri Block Sabraw, 73, wrote movingly about learning the virtue of patience; Jonathan Rosenberg, 72, reflected on his five marriages over as many decades; and Joan McCaul, 74, described learning how to appreciate nature from her young son.
Today, we bring you our winner: Michael Tobin, 77, who writes from Israel.
Michael is a psychologist. He is also the proud father of four and grandfather of eighteen. But the subject of his essay is his wife, Deborah.
We asked Michael to read his essay along with Ruby LaRocca, the winner of our teen contest earlier this year, for a special episode of Honestly. To listen to their stories of teenage happiness and senior wisdom from two people 60 years apart, click below:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If life were fair, Alzheimer’s should never have eaten Deborah’s brain.
My wife had no family history of the disease. All four of her Lebanese grandparents lived far into their nineties and were as acerbic, argumentative, and quick-witted at ninety-five as they were at twenty-five.
But Alzheimer’s devoured my wife, my best friend, my soul mate. Gone is the compassionate psychologist who graduated from Wellesley, MIT, and the Sorbonne. The polymath fluent in five languages who could calculate complex mathematical formulas in her head and whose brain came with its own GPS. The woman whose body could contort into pretzel-like yoga postures with the ease and grace of a ballerina. The truth-seeker who had an uncanny ability to pierce through layers of psychic sludge to unearth a soul in all its shining glory.
Diagnosed in November 2018, she had won a very perverse lottery.
www.thefp.com
The Winner of Our Senior Essay Contest: A Love Song for Deborah
After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.
By Michael Tobin
December 27, 2023
Over 400 readers entered our second-ever Free Press Essay contest, where we asked those over 70 to tell us about a pivotal time in their life—and the wisdom they gleaned from it. We received essays from 47 states and 10 countries, including from writers in Italy, South Africa, and China. We were blown away.
It took many weeks, and more than a few editors debating late into the night, to whittle down the pile.
Yesterday, you heard from our runners-up: Cheri Block Sabraw, 73, wrote movingly about learning the virtue of patience; Jonathan Rosenberg, 72, reflected on his five marriages over as many decades; and Joan McCaul, 74, described learning how to appreciate nature from her young son.
Today, we bring you our winner: Michael Tobin, 77, who writes from Israel.
Michael is a psychologist. He is also the proud father of four and grandfather of eighteen. But the subject of his essay is his wife, Deborah.
We asked Michael to read his essay along with Ruby LaRocca, the winner of our teen contest earlier this year, for a special episode of Honestly. To listen to their stories of teenage happiness and senior wisdom from two people 60 years apart, click below:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If life were fair, Alzheimer’s should never have eaten Deborah’s brain.
My wife had no family history of the disease. All four of her Lebanese grandparents lived far into their nineties and were as acerbic, argumentative, and quick-witted at ninety-five as they were at twenty-five.
But Alzheimer’s devoured my wife, my best friend, my soul mate. Gone is the compassionate psychologist who graduated from Wellesley, MIT, and the Sorbonne. The polymath fluent in five languages who could calculate complex mathematical formulas in her head and whose brain came with its own GPS. The woman whose body could contort into pretzel-like yoga postures with the ease and grace of a ballerina. The truth-seeker who had an uncanny ability to pierce through layers of psychic sludge to unearth a soul in all its shining glory.
Diagnosed in November 2018, she had won a very perverse lottery.
The Winner of Our Senior Essay Contest: A Love Song for Deborah
After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.
www.thefp.com
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So very sad.I thought this story and similar ones were worth citing in this thread. If you are dealing with Azheimers with friends or family (as most of us are) it is well worth a read
The Winner of Our Senior Essay Contest: A Love Song for Deborah
After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.
By Michael Tobin
December 27, 2023
Over 400 readers entered our second-ever Free Press Essay contest, where we asked those over 70 to tell us about a pivotal time in their life—and the wisdom they gleaned from it. We received essays from 47 states and 10 countries, including from writers in Italy, South Africa, and China. We were blown away.
It took many weeks, and more than a few editors debating late into the night, to whittle down the pile.
Yesterday, you heard from our runners-up: Cheri Block Sabraw, 73, wrote movingly about learning the virtue of patience; Jonathan Rosenberg, 72, reflected on his five marriages over as many decades; and Joan McCaul, 74, described learning how to appreciate nature from her young son.
Today, we bring you our winner: Michael Tobin, 77, who writes from Israel.
Michael is a psychologist. He is also the proud father of four and grandfather of eighteen. But the subject of his essay is his wife, Deborah.
We asked Michael to read his essay along with Ruby LaRocca, the winner of our teen contest earlier this year, for a special episode of Honestly. To listen to their stories of teenage happiness and senior wisdom from two people 60 years apart, click below:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If life were fair, Alzheimer’s should never have eaten Deborah’s brain.
My wife had no family history of the disease. All four of her Lebanese grandparents lived far into their nineties and were as acerbic, argumentative, and quick-witted at ninety-five as they were at twenty-five.
But Alzheimer’s devoured my wife, my best friend, my soul mate. Gone is the compassionate psychologist who graduated from Wellesley, MIT, and the Sorbonne. The polymath fluent in five languages who could calculate complex mathematical formulas in her head and whose brain came with its own GPS. The woman whose body could contort into pretzel-like yoga postures with the ease and grace of a ballerina. The truth-seeker who had an uncanny ability to pierce through layers of psychic sludge to unearth a soul in all its shining glory.
Diagnosed in November 2018, she had won a very perverse lottery.
The Winner of Our Senior Essay Contest: A Love Song for Deborah
After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.
My Mum, her sister and their mother all dianosed at 76 and all three died at 90. 14 abject years of misery for all the family as we watched them deteriorate back to early childhood.
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@wayneL Just came across your response Wayne
We just passed the 52 year mark, and like you will be devastated when the time comes.
