Mitzi was always so awesome about laughing at herself. I know she had a tough time dealing with the reality of her diagnosis, but 99% of the time, her phenomenal, indomitable spirit shone through the darkness of this disease.
She used to be waiting at the door every morning when I’d get there. I’d scarcely knock and the door would fly open with a huge hello and an even bigger hug waiting. I’m not going to lie, there is nothing like the joy of someone seeing you when they weren’t sure how long it would be before you arrived because time is so out of touch for them.
One morning when I arrived, she flung open the door and said, “I HAVE to show you what I learned today!” She led me to the refrigerator and pulled out a half gallon of buttermilk. She looked at me as serious as a heart attack and said, “I forget a lot of things. But I will never forget that buttermilk is not the same as regular milk on my granola. YUCK!” And then proceeded to crack herself up.
Alzheimer’s will give you a million things to cry about if you give it that much power in your life. Mitzi never did. She would tell me all the time, “I’m not going to let it steal my joy…” ????
