June 21st is the longest day of the year.
A few years ago, the Alzheimer’s Association designated that date as a special day to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s Disease. They chose the longest day of the year because for so many caregivers, every day can feel like the longest day when you’re really in the trenches of this disease.
And I get that.
I worked in a memory care home when I was in high school. I answered the same “Can you take me home” question a million times in an 8 hour shift. I have spent untold hours looking for purses or jewelry or scrapbooks in microwaves, cabinets, closets, or behind beds.
I remember nights 8 years ago when I’d go into my grandmother’s room when she lived with us, my eyes bleary from the sleep deprivation that comes with having a preschooler and a new baby, and it would literally take every bit of willpower I had to write what the next day’s activities were on the whiteboard mounted inside her bedroom door. It wasn’t that I hated writing on the whiteboard, it was more so that I wasn’t sure how I could get up the next day and do all the things I was writing down. (Note: It took me a good 4 months after we moved her to my aunt’s house for me to be emotionally ready to paint over the dark outline of dry erase marker residue from where the whiteboard had been. I would give anything to go back in time now and tell that 8 year younger, supremely sleep-deprived me that fact).
I’ve also spent no less than a full hour+ as a volunteer spoonfeeding a tiny bowl of thickened babyfood to a nearly catatonic woman in end stage Alzheimer’s, catching every bite with the spoon as she’d spit it out in disgust. This woman required this 3 times a day. Volunteers had to do it because the staff simply did not have that kind of time. In the end of the disease, they forget how to chew and often inadvertently pack food in their cheeks, only to aspirate or choke when they are put down in bed.
This year on the longest day, however, I was blessed to get to take one of my closest friends to the gym to see her buddies, then to lunch to see a high school pal she hasn’t seen in ages, followed by a visit with some other sweet friends, then a simple salad dinner (I think Mitzi’s love language is lettuce!) looking over the calm ocean, and then a chat as we watched my 2 boys dive and swim while the moon came up. There might have even been a chocolate covered ice cream bar break before bed as we listened to the 70s playlist on Pandora.
I kept seeing posts and messages from the support groups I am a part of about The Longest Day, and every time, I just kept being grateful that when you’re having a really good day, it’s not such a bad thing if it’s the longest day…❤️
