Standing Still
by
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David and Samantha spent two glorious weeks in
One night after the decision to stay there had been made, they were walking barefoot on the beach. David asked her if she had read the information packet the doctor had given them. She nodded but kept her head down. David wanted her to be prepared for what he knew would eventually happen to him. He knew the medication he was on was helping but it was only a matter of time before he would be unable to do what he could now.
“Samantha look at me please”, he finally said. She turned to face him and wiped the tears away with her hand. “Samantha I need you to know what ‘s coming. I want you to be prepared for the awful things that will happen to me. I won’t be the man you married anymore. I won’t be much of anything. But I will always, always love you. You have to know that.” He reached down and wiped her tears away gently, then put his arm around her and they walked on.
He told her about his mother having the disease that no one knew back then. He remembered how it had started with simple forgetfulness and progressed into a complete change in personality. He told her how that once sweet and soft spoken woman had turned into a vicious, spiteful person who screamed at all of them and accused her son and daughter of stealing things from her. He told her how she had wandered away during the night and how they had found her in a field of corn at dawn’s light just walking aimlessly through the rows. He remembered when the doctors had finally committed her to a mental institution, believing she had gone insane and how he and his older sister were never allowed to go and see her. She had died there in that horrible place with no one around her who cared or understood what had happened to her.
David told Samantha that he wanted her to promise him that when he got nasty she would tell the doctor so he could be sedated. He didn’t want to be responsible for hurting her in any way though he couldn’t protect her from the emotional heartbreak she would suffer.
When they went to bed that night they made love desperately, as though they were afraid they never would again. Then he held her close and told her how much he loved her and needed her to hold onto him for as long as she could stand it. Samantha told him that she would hold onto him until the day he died. David prayed that it wouldn’t be a long time for her. More than anything he wanted her to survive and move on.
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About the Book
When Samantha meets David on a flight to
After more than ten happy years of marriage, David begins to act strange. He seems to be drifting away from her and she wants to know why. When it turns out that he is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease they are both crushed. How could it happen to someone like him? He’s smart, successful, happy and full of life. But it has and he remembers what happened to his mother years ago. In those days people were just thought to be crazy and they were locked up in mental institutions. David prepares Samantha for what is coming and tries to make arrangements to keep her from suffering when the disease consumes him. But Samantha is young and still attractive and desperately lonely without him.
Can you love someone enough after their mind has become a closed book? Are memories enough to keep you warm at night? Can you love more than one man at the same time? Those are the questions that plague Samantha Norcross.
About the Author
I have always loved to read and write. As a child my family moved around a lot, so to keep in touch with my cousins, I wrote letters describing our new house, my new school, new friends and any adventures that happened along the way. I used to love reading the Bobsey Twins books because they always had exciting adventures.
As a nanny to two children who love books, I get to read all kinds of stories to them, just as I did to my own son when he was small. But when I feel like relaxing, I write. Sometimes it’s bits and pieces of a dream that I add to. Or it might be a memory from my childhood that becomes a story of love or loss.
This story is a part of my life that can’t ever be forgotten. My family has a history of Alzheimer’s disease. Of my mother’s eight siblings, four had Alzheimer’s and died of it. Two of my aunt actually shared a room in a nursing home. The one thing I will always remember from my visits with them is the way they held my hand and looked into my eyes. I wanted to believe that they knew who I was, just as Samantha does in my book. I watched my uncles sit with my aunts day after day, feeding after feeding. They suffered the pain of those left behind. I used my knowledge of the disease to describe David’s downfall, though I did soften it a great deal. Some Alzheimer’s patients get mean, like David’s mother did. Some just wander away because they forget where they are or who they are. This book is dedicated to all of use who forget something and wonder if we’re next.