Of Jiggling Wattles and Potty Breaks

These past few days have been busy to say the least. I participated in a 5 hour retreat of the Board of the Utah Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. It was a little emotional at first when they ran first a DVD called "The Faces of Alzheimer's" with Mom and me being the last faces in what was a very, very poignant display of many Utahn's who have or are care partners for the disease. Then, a DVD of Mom's presentation at the Maria Shriver conference was played. It reminded me once again of what a stalwart, intrepid pillar she has always been and continues to be. Unfortunately, and you know what is coming, I was then asked to review the conference we keynoted in St George on thursday night, the 4th. I struggled emotionally to get through a description of our role there. It was a meeting of Bishops, RS presidents and Stake Presidents from 24 southern Utah stakes, maybe 150 of the invitees attended. Our emphasis was on building faith-based coalitions with other religious organizations to make common cause to elevate awareness and accept the challenge to best this disease. You may be surprised to know that I was a little weepy in front of these board members, some of whom have not cried since they had a tetanus shot as a two-year old. I suspect their tear ducts are clogged with gold dust. It turned out to be a very useful meeting, however.

Once a month, I meet with Chase Peterson, former President at the University of Utah, and his vice president's, all of whom have long since retired. I, as an Assistant Vice President, am invited, either to bus the dishes after the lunch, or because Chase and I and the other's always got along really well. At the last meeting of this group, Ted Capener, former VP for Public Relations invited Kathryn and me to be interviewed on his weekly show, "Utah Conversations." The interview was on Wednesday, November 10. The show will air at 5:30 pm on December 12th, a Sunday. Today, we watched the DVD of the interview. I think we did really well, Kathryn especially. She was a thoughtful, honest, articulate and beautiful Alzheimer's recipient. She even admitted that she did well. I was a hand-waving, facially expressive, wattle jiggling care partner who was supportive and able to get across I think the urgency of the need to find a cure for this disease. Ted was a wonderful, fun, inquisitive host who asked insightful questions. We had a great time and enjoyed watching the re-run today.

So what do Potty Breaks have to do with all this, you ask? Yesterday, we received a note from the National Association that Kathryn has been selected as a participant in the building of the Association's float (funded by Pfizer) to be part of the Annual Tournament of Roses Parade on 1 January. My role is to help build the float and gently place each delicate little blossom in the proper place in the specialized chicken wire which entombs the float structure. We expect there be to lots of purple, the insignia color of the disease (Breast Cancer has selected pink.) When we have completed that task, Kathryn jumps on the float with the 4 other recipients of ALZ and down the avenue of starts and stops, bumps and twists, needs and no opportunities she'll go. They wave and smile the whole time, as if they are having the most amazing experience of their lives. They may well be. Only problem. No potty breaks. Many hours of no potty breaks. How is that going to work? Mom is the youngest of the bunch, with some approaching 80. I am trying to think of a solution. It guess it depends!!! There doesn't seem to be a tidy answer.