Happy New Year

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted.  I know in my head I have been posting as I have kept thinking of things I wanted to say. So, here goes........

The last few weeks have seen loved ones pass away, loved ones moving on to a different city, and old friends reuniting.  It's a mixed bag of feelings.  Word came this week to me that a friend in Atlanta had passed away from Alzheimer's.  He was 59 years old.  We had become friends many years ago through this disease and we shared things others couldn't. We'd laugh at ourselves, understood things only we would know about and share our families. Several times Bob and I shared a stage at meetings about Alzheimer's and he his wife were featured in Washington at one of the Public Policy Forums.  Bob's wife, Trish, first contacted me through this blog and since we lived close we got together.  Bob was only a year older than I was and we all seemed to get along well.  One of their children was going to UGA at the time, so they came to Athens often and came to our Walk to End Alzheimer's here in Athens for several years.  I always thought of Bob as a "gentle giant". He was not big, but he was tall -- I was always looking up to him (both literally and figuratively) and he was soft spoken, loved his family and was very aware of what he was dealing with.  Unfortunately, Bob's type of Alzheimer's was definitely inherited and he had been dealing with it in several members of his family for some time.  This type tends to be more aggressive than other types.  Bob was a runner and his family shared his passion. I'm sorry he couldn't outrun this disease.  We will pay our final respect to Bob this Saturday but he will never be forgotten.