Still Grandma

The last few years have gone so quickly, it took realizing I'm only 4 months away from college graduation to realize I needed to start a blog. I made a rather pathetic attempt at one several years ago, but it was just that -- pathetic. Even though my life shows no signs of slowing down, I thought it would be great to get a little personal writing time to mix up my professional writing that takes up most of my day. My life, at 22, has reached a surprisingly exciting point. I am months from graduation, just a few months more away from getting married, and talking about buying my first home. All of the changes I've been experiencing have left me breathless and dizzy. Because of the constant state of stress I seem to be under, I spend a lot of my evenings reading. 

Since I've been reading my whole life, I've become so quick that I typically finish a book in one evening. Last night, I read a book that affected me even more than usual. The book was called Still Alice, and I picked it up at Hastings on a whim yesterday. I've always been a "judge a book by its cover" type of girl, and this one caught my eye. What can I say? The iridescent cover combined with the butterflies (my all-time favorite insect) on the front cover sold me.

Still Alice, it turns out, spoke to me on a more personal level than any book I have read in recent memory. The book centers on Alice Howland, a Harvard professor who is diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease. Following Alice through her journey from a successful, happy woman to becoming "mush-brain" was incredibly difficult.

My grandma was recently diagnosed with dementia, and it has been a humbling journey so far. I have watched a lively, if occasionally disagreeable, woman turn from opinionated and interesting to constantly confused. My grandma is watching the last bits of her brain slip between her fingers, lucid enough to know what's happening to her, but not quite able to do anything to stop it from happening. What a terrifying feeling to watch yourself literally lose your mind.