I have come to believe at 81, having has lost two siblings to Alzheimer's, and who regularly keeps as up to date on the factors that lead to or can reduce the onset of this disease, that one not only has to nurture social and family connections, but also has to remember to make efforts to remain cheerful, forbearing, patient, kind and empathetic, which are all-important too. A recent study in fact claims that anger, that stalls any efforts to remain connected to others as well as contented with life, can induce symptoms that will eventually lead to full-blown dementia.

At the ripe age of 84, I am dealing with my husband's memory issues. It's difficult to see the slow disappearance of the great person he once was intellectually and socially, especially because so much of his boundless zest for life is gone. It is hard to witness the decline of a super-human being, through no fault of his own. Always good, honest and true to a fault, it doesn't seem fitting this should be his fate, but it is what it is. Maybe it's this way to teach all of us that undeserved challenges have a way of making us more aware of what is really important in life. Acceptance, for one, fortitude for another and gratitude for what was once and what remains. We cannot take life for granted...there are always things to learn.