“Hello. My name is in Aline Mary Elizabeth Zerrenner. And I am —” “I think the biggest thing was we enjoyed life so much. We traveled a lot. We went places. And now that wasn’t going to be possible anymore. So we would have to understand the things we could do and just try to make the best of it.” “I’m living in a hotel and I have a nice room. People here seem to be very nice. My husband comes to see me and take me out to eat. And we still have a good time together, even though we’re not living together.” “That’s your little robot friend that you’re supposed to talk to. Say hi to him.” “Hi, robot friend.” “In 2014, Touchmark opened up their memory care facility. It was state of the art and we were fortunate to be able to get in to a neighborhood there. It was a tough decision, even though it was the right decision. For a while, I still had the guilt trip. Did I make the decision too soon?” “But who comes and gets you in that door?” “My husband.” “Where does he take you?” “Out to eat.” “I like the new wheels.” “But I have Alzheimer’s.” “You have Alzheimer’s, yeah. It started with vascular dementia, then progressed to full Alzheimer’s. “What is this, here?” “Well, you fell.” And you have an abrasion on your lip there.” “Oh, did I?” “You fell at Touchmark, yeah. You fell three times this week already — Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.” “Holy mackerel.” “You have to understand when you say something that sometimes it may be confusing to her and keep the statements short, because if you make it a long statement or a long explanation, by the time you get to it, she forgets what you were even talking about.” “So we became a dementia-friendly restaurant pretty much through our journey with Walt and Aline — actually solely because of our journey with Walt and Aline. Everybody just looks out for Aline, so everybody kind of loves pitching in and taking a turn to bring her back to feel comfortable.” “When I talk to people, I talk about the importance of keeping humor in our lives. I mean, humor is kind of the universal language. And you should use it as much as you can. We have situations that come up and instead of getting upset about it, we just make fun of them.” “I like that approach.” “What’s this?” “It’s a camera.” “Now, what’s this here for? They’re taping us?” “It’s a camera. Surveilling us. Surveilling us, so we don’t steal anything.” “Why do they have this here?” “What’s that?” “Why do they have this here?” “It’s a periscope in a submarine.” “I never imagined I would have the patience that I have had, but I think there’s a clear understanding that it’s not the person who is changing. It’s the illness that’s causing all the changes. And be patient with that and try to put yourself in that person’s shoes. I keep myself fit and I keep myself busy, and that’s how you can deal with loneliness, because once you are not living together anymore, the loneliness sets in more in the evening, when the person that you spent 52 years of marriage with all of a sudden is not in the same bed with you anymore.” “I think most the time, I think I should remember. I should have remembered what I’ve forgotten. Yeah, I think I’m aware of it. It’s not fun having a part memory. So I just put up with it. What else can I do? Can’t get mad or upset or emotional about it, so I just have to accept it and say, well, that’s the way it is and go on from there, like it or not.”