The love, patience, and respect you have for your wife are outstanding. I know how hard it is to care for someone with Alzheimer's. She is very lucky to have you.
Thank you, Will, for sharing stories of your journey with Bella. The love you have for each other is magical. I'm certain she knows this viscerally, though she gets the setting wrong. Love and kindness bring as much to the giver as to the receiver.
Your unique capacity for responding to Bella’s emotional turmoil with creative strategies is a skill set which can’t be taught or learned in a classroom, or in reading a self- help book. And what “worked” one day may not work the next day. Yet your patience and perseverance, and recall for Bella’s personal history, from childhood and beyond, makes all the difference in assuring her you will find a way “home”… no matter where her brain wanders.
I laughed at the principal's "I'm so glad you're leaving" line. Smiles are priceless. And even though I now live in MI, so amazing to know Diane Collins and her many environmental contributions, including these trail books. It's so wonderful spending time with good folks. Thanks, Will.
Whatever Bella is thinking, it is real to her, and what you are doing by gently going along with it and not adamantly trying to convince her she is wrong is allowing her to keep trusting you. That trust will make this difficult journey more bearable as the going gets tougher. I truly admire your wisdom in this!
I follow you--your words, your activities. I follow Bella--her words, your words. And I feel such patience and sweetness and love with all that is difficult. Good lessons of how to be in this world.
I feel very blessed compared to you Three years ago I was a caregiver for my sister who had cancer, kidney disease which meant necessary dialysis, and other problems. It was a full time exhausting job. But on the plus side I was able to become closer to her. Unfortunately, I see no such benefits for you, only to just hang in there.
As your readers have expressed, love, patience and kindness abounds in your journey with Bella and it is a lesson to me, in how better to react in some difficult situations. It also occurs to me that this is what some of the people who have allowed themselves to be misled by the scheming, angry, power hungry attackers of human decency must be either lacking or incapable of harboring and disseminating those compassionate qualities. Thank you for your sage and thoughtful words you generously share with us.
Your patience and creative ways with Bella is a gift, not only to Bella, but to all who are dealing with a loved one experiencing dementia or Alzheimer's.
The love, patience, and respect you have for your wife are outstanding. I know how hard it is to care for someone with Alzheimer's. She is very lucky to have you.
Thank you, Will, for sharing stories of your journey with Bella. The love you have for each other is magical. I'm certain she knows this viscerally, though she gets the setting wrong. Love and kindness bring as much to the giver as to the receiver.
God bless you and Bella!!
Your unique capacity for responding to Bella’s emotional turmoil with creative strategies is a skill set which can’t be taught or learned in a classroom, or in reading a self- help book. And what “worked” one day may not work the next day. Yet your patience and perseverance, and recall for Bella’s personal history, from childhood and beyond, makes all the difference in assuring her you will find a way “home”… no matter where her brain wanders.
God bless you both, today and always.
I laughed at the principal's "I'm so glad you're leaving" line. Smiles are priceless. And even though I now live in MI, so amazing to know Diane Collins and her many environmental contributions, including these trail books. It's so wonderful spending time with good folks. Thanks, Will.
Dear Will
Thank you for sharing your story- and my story too!
Diane Collins
Whatever Bella is thinking, it is real to her, and what you are doing by gently going along with it and not adamantly trying to convince her she is wrong is allowing her to keep trusting you. That trust will make this difficult journey more bearable as the going gets tougher. I truly admire your wisdom in this!
When I read how you deal with this I'm saddened I wasn't as graceful with my mom. She didn't have Alzheimers , but age related dementia.
I was impatient alot of times because I was trying to work, manage her and her care.
It's difficult to say the least and I admire the way you're dealing with it.
Your love for each other is so strong.
Your stories of you and Bella and Ringo have always given me a spark of hope in humanity.
I follow you--your words, your activities. I follow Bella--her words, your words. And I feel such patience and sweetness and love with all that is difficult. Good lessons of how to be in this world.
Thank you, Will. “Love is patient and kind.”
I feel very blessed compared to you Three years ago I was a caregiver for my sister who had cancer, kidney disease which meant necessary dialysis, and other problems. It was a full time exhausting job. But on the plus side I was able to become closer to her. Unfortunately, I see no such benefits for you, only to just hang in there.
Dear Mr. Doolittle,
As your readers have expressed, love, patience and kindness abounds in your journey with Bella and it is a lesson to me, in how better to react in some difficult situations. It also occurs to me that this is what some of the people who have allowed themselves to be misled by the scheming, angry, power hungry attackers of human decency must be either lacking or incapable of harboring and disseminating those compassionate qualities. Thank you for your sage and thoughtful words you generously share with us.
Your patience and creative ways with Bella is a gift, not only to Bella, but to all who are dealing with a loved one experiencing dementia or Alzheimer's.
Love and patience, understanding and patience, sacrifice and patience - we should all be this good at caregiving. Bella is so lucky to have you.
Bella is lucky to have you 💚