My Alzeheimer's Idea

February 27th --  I thought of a new idea for my dad today.  Well, the idea kind of started a couple of days ago after I had a conversation with my mom.  I guess one of the things my father gets the most upset about is his idea that after he dies, nobody will remember anything about him.

I know we could do a video for him to watch but my dad is constantly messing up the remote control and my mother would have no idea how to work a DVD.  So I went very simple.  I bought a three ring binder with five dividers, one for me and each of my siblings.  My idea is that we periodically write a brief memory of something that we remember about my dad.  And mail it to him.  Truly, the high of his day is when the mail comes.  How cool would it be for him to get letters from us.  (It's not like my parents have a computer where we can send emails.)  So anyway, my mother would put the written memories in the binder under the name of the kid who sent it.  And my father could keep the binder right next to his special reading chair for easy access.

I am really excited about this.  It would be like his scrapbook of things his children and grandchildren remember about him.  And whenever he gets scared that he will be forgotten, my mother can tell him to read his "book."

I hope this works. Even if my siblings don't send him any memories, I can send him tons.  I am going to start with my memory from when I was really little, like three or four years old.  He would come and get us out of the tub and hold out the towel to wrap us up as we stepped out.  As we lifted our legs to climb over the side of the tub, he would tell us to hold onto his ears for support.  I remember always being nervous that I would hurt him but he just laughed.  "My ears are big enough," he would say, "so just hold on tight!"  when I think about that memory, it makes me really love the fact that Riley has his Opa's big ears.  The legacy continues...