Memories Matter, Love Never Forgets

 June 21st to most is the Summer Solstice. This day the sun is at its highest point, and we get the most hours of daylight and least hours of darkness of any day of the year. 

In our family, this day is more than the Summer Solstice. It is The Longest Day, the day with the most light, to fight the darkness of Alzheimer's, a very personal disease for our family. 

My Grandma Chesery, my mother's mother, fought and lost a long battle with Alzheimer's. 

In late 2019, my mother was also diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  As she slowly began to forget a little more each day, Pops stepped in, without hesitation, as her full-time caretaker. Doing all the things she couldn't remember how to do or could no longer do for herself. Always concerned that his JJ was taken care of, up until the day he died.

The Alzheimer's Association uses this day for fundraising through whatever activities you choose, as well as to recognize all the caretakers out there who have the Longest Day every single day. 

This year we celebrated the Longest Day, with Pops in mind, we donned our purple shirts and headed out to the shoreline for some good old-fashioned pizza. We found ourselves at a nice outdoor table in Old Saybrook at a place called the Pizza Palace. If you buy 3 pizzas you get 1 free, so why not get 4 pizzas!

 Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the pizza, we ate it too quickly. But we had a nice selection. One with just sausage, one with eggplant, one with fresh tomatoes & basil, and one with buffalo chicken. All delicious and cheesy. 

Krystina, Carol (Krystina's mom) Nana, Alan & Maverick (who also had purple on that day)

Our front door went purple for the Month of June for Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness month.

This adorable little gnome, that declares Memories Matter, was made by a cute little shop on Etsy, called Victoria's Vanity Shop. He will probably live on our door most of the year, not just in June. 

There are 55 million People globally that are living with some form of dementia. 

More than 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars are spent globally on dementia.

More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's

More than 11 million family and friends are care givers to someone with Alzheimer's in the U.S, giving 16 billion hours of unpaid care to their loved ones. 

Please join our family in the fight against Alzheimer's so we can find a cure for this awful disease. 

I've taken over Mom's care now. I know I will never be as patient with her as Pops, he was a saint, but I'm trying to make him proud and care for her the way he did. With the help of my loving girlfriend, family and friends I know we will make it through the Longest Days. 

For us, it's all about making the memories with Mom. Because even when she forgets, love never forgets & memories always matter!