After experiencing my wife Carol's dip into Alzheimer's, caused by her dementia combined with a UTI, (Urinary tract infection,) I realized what it was like to be the sole keeper of our precious shared memories. I could no longer ask her something like “Remember celebrating our anniversary at the El Tovar in the Grand Canyon? Was that our 9^th or 10^th?”

A memory can be a lonely thing if there's no one to share it with.

It's a terrible experience to lose a loved one, but I believe having a loved one lose their memory of you is just as bad or maybe even worse.

Thankfully Carol's full blown Alzheimer's symptoms were temporary and she has recovered her long term memory. She's taking drugs to alleviate the symptoms, (there is no cure,) and her memory loss now is mostly short term. She loses and misplaces things all day long, but I'll take that any day compared to her not remembering who I am.

Now when I ask her “Remember the moonlight on the snow that night at the ranch in Colorado? We played music all night long.”

“Yes, I remember! Every time I hear the theme from La Dolce Vita I think of that night.”