I’m very much not a marathon person. Ask absolutely ANYONE who knows me! When I did do track stuff during PE back in middle school, I excelled in sprinting because I could use my long legs to my advantage, but any kind of distance running has never been my thing. I’ve always joked that if you see me running, you better join me because there’s probably an escapee right behind me with a weapon!
I do, however have one marathon in the books…one medal to my name that proves I finished a race once. I’m so glad I have the memory of coming across the finish line with Mitzi two years ago. While it wasn’t a particularly challenging event, it was still a victory once we finished on that chilly Saturday morning. I have my medal hanging in a spot where I see it every day, multiple times a day. Mitzi’s is hanging on her mirror in her bedroom, so I see it every day that I am over at her house.
The journey of this disease has not been a sprint for Mitzi. She was formally diagnosed over 4 years ago, but had shown symptoms for years before doctors could come to the shocking diagnosis that she did, in fact, have Alzheimer’s Disease in her mid-50s.
I have told Mitzi, almost daily now (sometimes I’m with her 6 days a week, sometimes 5), that I’m not going anywhere. Even when the course gets more difficult, and it’s hard to tell where the finish line even is, I’m not giving up. I’ve often read to her a verse that makes this hit home from Philippians, and she always tears up when I do. I think it’s so important to remind those in our lives who are facing difficult times that we are not just hanging around for the fun and festivities. That we are going to be by their side, no matter what, for whatever the race calls us to. I have seen Alzheimer’s in every phase. I know how tough the last stages look. What people need at that time, almost more important than food sometimes, is to know that they are loved and accepted just as they are, that they are safe, and that they aren’t alone; that there are people walking beside them to make sure they make it to the finish line…????
“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
~Phil 3:14 (NLT).
