My Dad is the greatest. He is head of the household and protector extraordinaire. He regularly exposes us to new cultural experiences, cuisines and music. Loves nothing better than meeting new people — and encourages us to expand our own social circles. He has always provided for us, making the necessary sacrifices to send us to private schools and good universities — his goal is to give us the right tools in order to have the best start in life. He even uses his Marine training to teach us self defense moves… he’s raising his three little ladies to be independent and self-sufficient.
However, there’s one little kink in his plan….
Daddy has Alzheimer’s. Al, for short.
I like to think of Al as Dad’s evil twin. Shadows him wherever he goes. Day in, day out. Eating away at his brain at an alarming rate… manifesting surprising new behaviors and dramas with each passing day.
With each interaction, I hold my breath and wait to see which personality will come out to play. The persona I deal with at 3 PM might not be the same persona I deal with at 3:45… which, by 4:15, could toggle back, or morph into an even darker version, who hates every word I utter, or look I give. This evil retinue only cedes control upon achievement of victory… the victory evident from my tears and/or an expression of weakness. I have only recently realized that these victories bring me the closest to Dad… it is only then that the real Dad is allowed out… just for brief periods… sometimes he stays until the next day, other times, just for a few minutes. This Father’s Day, Dad was allowed out for seemingly the entire day. I wonder if he will make a cameo next year at this time.
Vedantic wisdom interprets Alzheimer’s as the victim’s karmic affliction. I sometimes wonder… when you look at the schema of the illness… is it an affliction of the victim’s karma, that of the caretaker(s), or both?
Dad's Pal Al... 