It's easy to "fall in love" and go through life while circumstances are smooth. But when illness or financial ruin strike, darkness falls. It is then that "love" is tested.
I was madly in love with Cliff. I was enchanted by his beauty from the time I first saw him when I was eleven years old. Decades later, we married and I was still madly in love with him every minute of every day. But he was 34 years older than me and I always feared the time would come....
Cliff became more and more frail in his 80's, but he never lost his memory. He had wonderful stories to tell about New York and music in the 1930's. He never forgot me. He honoured me. He told people I was his angel.
There were years of ambulance rides, doctors, medical errors, anxiety, but the love never stopped. I stayed by his side in hospital day and night for weeks at a time. A friend loaned me a "chaise lounge". Hospital staff brought me "egg crate" foam to soften my bed. I washed my undies in the sink and I only went home to wash and pet my Siamese cat being cared for by my friend.
Cliff has been gone since 1992. I miss him all the time. I told him never to forget me and he never did. And I never forget him. But when your loved one has Alzheimers and forgets who you are, you still remember. It hurts like hell, but you remember.
Phyllis Carter
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