Dear Poppop,

            I hope when you read this it reaches you in a way that will be forever burned into your brain so that when you can’t remember anything else anymore that this is the one thing that sticks in your brain like glue to paper. I know that you are starting to forget things more and more and I understand that that is out of your control, but it doesn’t change the pain that is felt when I see the confusion or fear that rushes you like the ocean to the beach. Or the sadness and fear that reaches all of us having to witness this happen with nothing that we can do to help you. When it comes to remembering you now and later on in life I will never see you as the confused man that you are now but the Poppop that would take me out to go bowling, who would swim with me for hours, the Disney trips together and the silly, gentle, loving and strong man and grandfather you have always been. This letter is meant to be a comfort rather than a letter that seems morbid or sad. I want you to know that the memories from before are the memories everyone would cherish and reminisce on rather than the confused doppelgänger that presents from time to time. I want this letter to stick in your mind and if sadly this letter doesn’t I want this to stick in your mind; the memories from over the years together will never be shadowed by the confusion and fear Alzheimer’s has forced upon you and that we have and always will be here for you because we love you.

Love always,

Maria