by Joanne Smith

Created on: November 04, 2008

One of my greatest treasures in life is the memory I carry around with me. There are the memories of my childhood and of my children being born. There are memories of meeting my husband and Sunday mornings sleeping in, something as a mother of three small children I do not do very often. Although each of the memories that I carry into the dawn of each new day is priceless to me I am still moving forward in my life. A smile I share with a stranger today may turn into a conversation that I cherish for a lifetime. I do not have the power to know which conversation or which person I meet day to day are going to influence a positive memory in my life. Every encounter is a memory in the making. Each sight and smell is refreshing to my senses, despite the possibility of having seen them before. It is like a gift each day, renewing the rewards of living our lives.

Children have an amazing opportunity to embrace life without the fore sight of disappointment and the expectation of wanting something better. Children live in the moment. The memories of the past are able to stay there until years later when they are looked back on with an adult evaluation.

Children accept what they are given and comply with the instructions they are given. They have not yet determined their lives based on past experiences.

Alzheimer's is an assault on the predictability we establish through our memory of trial and error and for our efforts made. It erases all of the recognition we hold on to that allows us to rank ourselves in society. Society has a way of holding us accountable for our actions. Working hard and being positive to those around us normally allows us to reap the reward of friendship and steady work. It gives us the confidence and motivation to continue.

When someone we love can no longer rely on our past achievements of being a wonderful daughter, for being there every step of someone else's life it leaves of feeling stripped of all our worth. It makes our memories seem trivial when the other person is no longer aware of them. It makes our efforts seem like a waste of time and our heart has a hard time understanding how love can turn it's back on a past built on memories.

The truth is each visit, every phone call is a renewed with the sun rising. It does not begin with the memory of the day before. We are quick to look out the window to check the weather before getting dressed despite having watched the weather on the news the night before. We engage in conversations with old

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