I finally made it to the post office to pick up my Alzheimer’s stamps to put on the thank you notes I was sending out. It’s weird to have all of this extra time now to do things like make it to the post office while it is still open. And sit down to write thank you notes. I am trying to learn to appreciate the new changes in my routine and time. But I can’t say it’s easy on my heart.
I digress. The stamps…
I love that since 2017, 7.3 million stamps have been sold to help raise awareness for Alzheimer’s.
What I didn’t love, (and frankly, it made me more passionate than ever about sharing Mitzi’s journey), was the lovely artwork on the stamp of the sweet older lady with her silver-white hair looking like she was fresh from the beauty parlor.
That’s what has to change.
That’s why Mitzi’s story is so compelling.
Because, on a certain level, it scares people. I’ve seen the look on their faces when we would be out and we’d explain why I was her sidekick. Their faces said it all. If Alzheimer’s Disease can destroy the life of the local high school Homecoming Queen, wife of 3 decades, and mother of 2 who was still in her 50s, then it isn’t far-fetched that I might be next. Or you. After all, every 65 seconds in the US, someone develops this completely terminal disease.
Alzheimer’s is NOT an “old people’s disease,” as I’ve so often heard it referred to. Part of the reason Mitzi’s diagnosis took a while to nail down was because she was so young.
The face of Alzheimer’s is no longer a stereotypical elderly person who has lived a long time and is approaching the “winter” season of their life as the stamp seems to depict. (For the record, I wholeheartedly believe that your life has tremendous value no matter how old you are.) The face of Alzheimer’s can be any adult. Mitzi. Me.
You.
By the way, if you are an average reader, just in the time it took you to read this post, someone else in this country developed Alzheimer’s Disease…
#endalz #walk2endalz
