"For 42 years we discussed everything, sorrows, joys and concerns. In all those things, Connie was my partner and I hers. Suddenly, here we were facing the biggest challenge of our marriage and Connie was the one person with whom I couldn’t discuss it. One of the saddest and most frustrating parts of this journey was that we never became a team."

So very true.

Thanks for sharing Marche :)

DW knows totally she has cognitive impairment.
She knows that the formal diagnosis is dementia
She knows we cannot renew her medical license when it expires this year.
She knows dementia is just a specific kind of medical "statement" one which depends heavily on the subjective opinion of the physician.

So what do we do?
I get upset when she spends endless hours going through her old files
but she says they are her memories of what she did
(her collected papers are now at the National Library of Medicine.

Does she share my deepest fears about the future??

I don't know.

What is the point of asking?
We simply try to live each day as well as we can. I make plans for the next few months and that is it.

another Song

Winds of Morning by Tommy Makem

I've walked the hills when rain was falling
Rested by a white oak tree
Heard a lark sing high at evening
Caught a moonbeam on the sea

Softly blow ye winds of morning
Sing ye winds your mournful sound
Blow ye from the earth's four corners
Guide this traveller where he's bound

By foreign shores, my feet have wandered
Heard a stranger call me friend
Every time my mind was troubled
Found a smile around the bend

There's a ship stands in the harbour
All prepared to cross the foam
Far off hills were fair and friendly
Still there's fairer hills at home

Softly blow ye winds of morning
Sing ye winds your mournful sound
Blow ye from the earth's four corners
Guide this traveller where he's bound