Thank-you Alzheimer’s Wife for nominating me for the “Very Inspiring Blogger Award.” Since you have travelled farther along the road of Alzheimer’s/Dementia/Cognitive Impairment, I am genuinely touched that you find my posts worthwhile.

Having begun blogging just three and a half months ago in late April, I am still learning the rudiments so please forgive me if I screw up while following the Award Rules…well really, there is no excuse but I’m pretty sure I can’t follow the rules completely.

Rule 1.            Thank and link to the amazing person who nominated you.                                      See above for my appreciation of Alzheimer’s Wife who is always loving without pretending dealing with her husband Bo is not difficult. I think it is very important (and very difficult) for caretakers to be realistic about what we can and cannot do. I also want to mention the first blog that inspired me: The Alzheimer’s Spouse, whose chronicler Joan is currently facing the final stages of the battle.

Rule 2.            List the rules and display the award.                                                                                       This one is easy at least. See the award in the sidebar

Rule 3.           Share seven facts about yourself.                                                                                              Ugh, but here goes:

One. I am a city girl whom Ralph dragged kicking and screaming to our rural farm twenty years ago. Now, while I don’t quite fit into farm life, I find the city unbearably noisy and chaotic.

Two. I am 63, Ralph is 67, and we have been married for almost 37 years

Three. That marriage has really been more like three marriages—The first marriage, our first twenty years, was rocky and full of wrangling about everything from child-rearing to politics to the move to the farm; the second marriage included the few years of quiet and reconnection after the kids were out of the house (and despite the arrival of my mother ten years ago); the third marriage has just begun, and I imagine it will slip into a fourth marriage down the road.

Four. I am the oldest of four children and was never close to my mother so it is ironic that she ended up living with Ralph and me for nine years (with the help of excellent in-home care) until we placed her in a nursing home last October at age 96.

Five.  Seeing the importance of Long Term Health Insurance, I made sure Ralph and I purchased it. Ralph thought I was being over-cautious but Thank God we bought it when we did.

Six.  I find giving facts about myself difficult even though I write a blog that goes into intimate detail about my marriage and my life.

Seven. I am not a computer illiterate blogger. In fact I never read a blog until Ralph’s diagnosis when I started Googling for information on Alzheimer’s and Cognitive Impairment. In fact I am technically impaired in general, as Ralph and our children will tell anyone who asks.

Rule 3. Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.                                                                                                                                       See the seventh fact above. I have to admit I don’t follow that many other bloggers. But among those few I have discovered so far and not counting those above, the following are my two favorites, bloggers I’d like to hang out with over a cup of coffee and whom I hereby nominate:

Before I Forget  is written by Mrs. Hsg, an incredibly brave British woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago. Not only is she brave, but she is also funny. And her British take on life is thoroughly refreshing.

Enterthestorm is a new blog written by a woman whose situation sounds uncomfortably like my own. Her posts so far have been straightforward and heartfelt, painful but irresistibly honest to the bone.

Rule 4.  Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

DONE