Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Here in Delray Beach, Florida the sky is crystal clear on a good night.
Sometimes, I go out at night and look up at the stars. As my eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, I see hundreds, then thousands, then millions of stars. Everywhere I look, in every direction more and more stars.
When I look up at those stars I start to imagine them as Alzheimer's caregivers.
If I look way up north maybe I'll see Angil Tarach, or Laurry Harmon, or Judy Berry. I can look straight west and maybe I'll see Carole Larkin in Texas. If I look far far away, maybe I'll see Cass Alexander in New Zealand. I can look about five miles to the south and maybe I'll see Olga Bruner. If I look north in Florida I might see Rose Lamatt.
Somehow I imagine each and everyone of those stars as an Alzheimer's caregiver. All 9.9 million of them.
I often wonder how the caregivers are doing? What are they doing right now? What are they feeling? Are they alone?Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
I begin to envision them in my mind. Caregivers in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, India, Italy, Brazil. Caregivers in the 82 countries that have visited the Alzheimer's Reading Room.
Sometimes while looking at all those stars I begin to look at the space between the stars -- I call this the Blue Nowhere.
When I look at the Blue Nowhere, I begin to imagine all the persons suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The Blue Nowhere is very vast.
I imagine that there were stars where the Blue Nowhere is today. Some of those stars are burning out, so they are not bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Some of those stars burned out, they are no longer there. The Blue Nowhere is very vast.
I think about my mother as she slowly moves into the Blue Nowhere. I try to imagine what it is going to be like when she gets there.
I wonder what it will be like for her? What it will be like for me? I think about this often, I have no choice.
Sometimes when I am out there I look at my watch -- 15 minutes. I start to look back and forth, back and forth. Stars, Blue Nowhere, Stars, Blue Nowhere....
I think in the last fifteen minutes about 13 people started their trip into the blue nowhere. 13 people are going to become stars.
Every 70 seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I really don't like to think about that for very long.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
When the blazing sun is gone,
When there's nothing he shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night.
Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Bob DeMarco is the editor of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. Bob has written more than 1,565 articles with more than 8,000 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.
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Original content Bob DeMarco, Alzheimer's Reading Room
