Mr. Garrett Goes to Washington

Well, Daniel has just driven down the driveway on his way to his new job with the State Department. The first seven weeks of training will be the most intense, then he’ll spend some months in language study, depending on where he’s sent. He’s rented an apartment in Virginia, a short bike ride from the institute. He plans to visit us whenever he can. When he left, Grandma said, “Drive carefully and call us when you get settled.” She’s finishing her afternoon nap now.

We will all miss Daniel: his energy, his humor, his creativity. He says he’s confident I will continue to do a good job of caring for my grandmother.

Fifty years of Alzheimer’s

We think of Alzheimer’s disease as something that affects the brains of older people. Actually, half of older people are never affected by it, and many who have it will die naturally before the disease is even diagnosed. One of the most interesting, and influential, books about Alzheimer’s Disease is Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives
by David Snowdon.

I’m fascinated by Dr. Snowden’s report that researchers have found Alzheimer’s structures (plaques and tangles) in the brains of 20-year-olds. Continue reading “Fifty years of Alzheimer’s”

Low-grade insanity

I don’t believe in mental illness, per se, even though it’s a common diagnosis in my family. Sometimes symptoms are caused by character or spiritual problems; often by physical or chemical problems. But it’s a mistake to consider it a disease that some people (i.e. other people) have. I see it as an extreme version of problems that all of us have. All of us can be irrational at times. Most of us can control it. But none of us think clearly or feel accurately all the time. We are mistaken if we take our own minds too seriously. Insanity is more common in ourselves than we think, and less common in others than we suppose.

My experience at playing God

I once rehearsed a play in which I served as the “voice of God” replying to a delightful little girl saying her bedtime prayers. I frustrated the director. “No, say that line more majestically.” “No, say it more warmly.”

I never got it right. I should have retorted, “What do you want me to be: both God and man?”

It’s rare to find someone who can do that successfully.