About Me:   We are a traditional family. My dad has MDS (a type of leukemia). My mom has Alzhiemers / Dementia (which odd as it may seem may be a blessing for her).  Ebay has helped me do my part.      FOR YOU MOM:  To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, And to sing it to them...when they have forgotten.~Anonymous~ I have the honor of becoming friends with the lovely ladies and gentlemen at the Special (Memory) Care Unit at a local Assisted Living Facility (ALF) and another nursing home.   I have gotten to know the residents and have discovered each person has a personality that can brighten any day, you just have to find it.  Alzheimer's / Dementia is a dibilitating disease for those who have it and for their loved ones.  But what I have learned is that for A/D patients and the elderly the most important thing anyone can do to help them deal with this disease is to join them in their journey.  "Only patience and physical affection can break through the A/D bubble and communicating through copying the movement, or touching, or holding the patient's hand whilst humming a song, may sometimes be the only key to the patient. The more the person tends to disappear - the more the sense of physical affection can be a source of self-experience. Try to accept the patient's behaviour rather than interfere (unless the patient might cause danger to himself or others)." Each person should be allowed to live in their own reality.   For any elderly person or an A/D patient they just need to be loved as they make this journey.....   It is the time you have given for your rose that makes your rose so important".  Excerpt from Antoine de St-Exupery's The Little Prince I take my dog to visit nursing homes and it is quite rewarding.  I would like to encourage anyone who has a well tempered pet and has time to share him or her with  the elderly, especially those who are home bound or in nursing homes.  They are so appreciative and really enjoy the animals and anyone who will spend some time with them.  ...about miracles... "People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes.  All is a miracle." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Remember, the most important things in life... are not things.