That Which Abides

One morning several years ago, I noticed Dale’s wedding ring and another ring on the bedside table. Assuming he had just forgotten to put them on, I took them to him. He stretched out his hands, showing me that he had two other rings on them. I held up his wedding ring and pointed to his left hand. Nothing registered. I showed him my ring and how the two matched. Still no comprehension.

This precious gold ring—the one I had placed on Dale’s finger during our wedding ceremony—had, to him, become just another ring.

Clearly, the disease was on the move, cutting a wide swath through Dale’s brain, destroying long-held memories and separating meaning from things. Spoken words were becoming just sounds. Beloved possessions, simply objects. With no access to key parts of our story, the ring’s significance as a symbol of our union was gone.

During this same period, it seemed that I, too, was beginning to disappear from his awareness. He stopped saying my name, and no longer recognized it when others said it.

Who am I to him? I wondered. Who are we to one another if he no longer understands the concept of “spouse”? What is a marriage when I alone hold our story, remember our wedding, understand the symbolism of our rings?

Although who I am to Dale is not always clear to me, this is clear: Love—the reality we celebrated 35 years ago with an exchange of rings—still IS, no matter what Dale calls me or what he remembers from day to day. It does not live in the symbols that once had meaning to both of us. Love is embodied in our actions. Every day.

We continue to encircle one another with it, despite the destruction caused by this terrible disease. Love is expressed not only in my caregiving tasks but in Dale’s own actions and responses.

It is different these days. Sometimes disease-related confusion creates barriers. And sometimes my patience wears thin. But love still IS, and it is expressed in both new and old ways: A clasp of the hand. Patience when either one of us has to wait. Willingness, on his part and mine. Shared laughter. A look of recognition. A smile.

Concepts fade away. Symbols lose meaning. Love is what is real. Love is what abides.

“When you put these rings on each other’s fingers, they become symbols of your pledge to one another…that you will encircle one another with your love, your care, and your protection, that whatever happens, you can depend on one another…Your ability to give yourselves to one another is not perfect now, but you will learn to give yourselves more and more, until the gift is like the ring, continuous and whole.”
                                                                                      From our wedding ceremony, June 2, 1985