| Expressions of love, care, gratitude, and appreciation |
“Maybe even once a day at least I tell him how I love him and how he’s the best dad in the world and whenever we have that conversation, I feel like we have that connection. Sometimes out of the blue he’ll thank me or say I love you first.” “Sometimes he realizes that it’s not so easy for me and that he appreciates it.” “He prays for me every time he sees me leave the rehab facility. It brings a tear to my eye.” “When she thanks me and says that she is so appreciative of the things that we do for her.” “This has been awesome. He has been sharing how proud he is of my brother and me. We’ve listened to him sharing his thoughts about us. He feels I am an accomplished human being. He’s called me a good mom. This is a major change from the negativity he used to express months prior.” “Just about every day. We have special moments praying and expressing gratitude and laughing together. We share these moments at least once a day.” “There’s been several times when she is more lucid and she actually exudes this warmth and you can just tell that she’s happy to be there with me. It’s not any specific instance or set of circumstances, although generally it’s at home when it’s peaceful. When it happens, she wants to give me a hug and a kiss and she always says ‘thank you for accepting me’.” “He held me when I was crying. My cousin’s son died. I was really sad and he saw me crying. He just held me. He rubbed my back. It was really tender and sweet. He was there for me even in his illness.”
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| Physical affection |
“In the morning when I’m helping him get ready I lean up and give him a kiss and he always smiles after that.” “We kiss and hug hundreds of times a day.” “He holds my hand and will not let it go sometimes.” “We have been married 60 years. We are overly connected. He looks for me all the time. He is always affectionate. He is very cuddly. He hugs me every time he has an opportunity. I always feel connected.”
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| Sharing an emotional experience |
“We laugh every day and tell each other how much we love each other. It wasn’t in our vows but in our culture everybody knows it’s in sickness and in health, in rich and in poor.” “I made a joke and we started laughing and I felt like I had my mom back again.” “When he opens up about how his conditions makes him feel and will let me in.” “3 days ago John expressed things that he is fearful when his disease gets worse.
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| Moments of how it was before |
“When he focuses in on my face he brightens up. He remembers the word wife sometimes.” “The best part of the whole day is the end of the day when he’s in bed. We can lay there and there’s no Parkinsonism there. We can just be like how it was before.” “When I feel most connected to him is just when he’s able to respond to me as if he knows me, when he seems more like himself. There have been a couple of days like that in the last few months, and those are the days you relish and treasure.” “She’s usually in her own zone most of the time, but she sings a lot- I love when she does it. I feel that is the same person from years ago. Sometimes we even sing together!”
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