I just returned from Anaheim, California where I gave the keynote address at the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk Awards and Recognition Dinner. It was a great event, with energetic and inspirational people who care very much about increasing awareness of AD and creating change. But I found an unintended irony in the setting for the event—Disneyland. Walt Disney’s world is…
I just returned from trips to San Francisco and New Orleans, where I spoke to 2000 health care professionals. The people to whom I spoke were engaged and energetic and really interested in talking about what it’s like to live with AD. I was particularly touched by grown grandchildren who had experienced the gradual loss of a grandparent to the…
Read MoreI’m giving a lot of speeches this coming year on AD and caregiving, and I like doing it. I like the connections. It’s almost like sitting next to someone on a plane—you will probably never see them again, but while you’re sharing space and time there’s a connection. A nice one, if you’re lucky. Once, after speaking at a university…
Read MoreSeems it never rains in sunny California … but girl, don’t they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours. It’s been pouring for the better part of three days now, and we’re cranky. Until this week, the only use my umbrella got was when I headed east. I know I’m spoiled, you don’t have to tell me. But I’ll confess: as…
Read MoreI have a “Google Alert” set to notify me when there are articles, blogs and reviews on “I Still Do.” As a result of an alert I recently received, I was introduced to the Pallimed Blog which discusses issues around hospice care, palliative medicine and end of life issues. The blog was founded by a palliative care physician, Drew Rosielle, MD…
Read MoreAlzheimer’s can be such a heavy subject to write about, and to read about. I’d like to lighten things up once and a while with one of my photographs. It works for me, but what I want to know is if it works for you. Please let me know how you feel about this direction. Oysterhub can be a beneficial…
Read MoreEd and I spent a lot of time yesterday on a verbal trip down memory lane. I talked about trips we’d taken, and focused on those moments I thought were most vivid and might have the strongest emotional context for him. Ed seemed to truly remember some of the experiences I described. After the conversation, he thanked me for talking…
Read MoreToday, when I saw Ed at the facility where he lives, he was extremely lucid; and it was very painful for both of us. The first thing he said to me was that he felt as though he were in another world. He told me he didn’t want to be around people with his disease (he doesn’t remember that it’s…
Read MoreThere’s nothing quite like the lights of Manhattan. They’re musical to me—always pulsing, twinkling and moving. Much like the city. These photographs were taken from my hotel window during my recent trip to New York.
Read MoreWhile in New York for the opening of my photography show at the Andrea Meislin Gallery, I bundled myself up—added a few extra layers—and set off for a Chelsea gallery to see new images by one of my favorite photographers, William Eggleston. Not everyone loves his work, but I’m a big fan. Eggleston photographs ordinary objects that are usually invisible…
Read MoreThe opening of my solo show of photographs from “I Still Do” was yesterday at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York. There was a wonderful turn-out and I loved every minute of the event. I was also very touched by the people who showed up: there were four women who were high school classmates of mine with whom I…
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