Memory Walk

Aaron and I met on a Saturday in 2004 at my friend, his cousin, Amber's graduation party. I moved to Minnesota for the summer just three days later...and Aaron came with me! We spent the five hour car ride talking non-stop about religion, our pasts, our dreams, our families, our family. It was the turning point in our relationship. We both knew we had found the person we were going to marry.

Aaron has a huge family, and he spent time telling me about each person so I'd have some background information for family gatherings! I remember sitting on the couch and listening to him tell me that his grandmother had Alzheimer's Disease. She'd been diagnosed a year or two earlier, and would soon be moved to an assisted living facility. He told me the details very matter-of-factly, but I could tell that he was struggling with it. We talked about how everyone in his family was dealing with it, and then I asked how he was dealing with it. I asked him if he was alright. He stopped and just looked at me and smiled sadly. He wasn't alright, but we both realized at that moment that our life together wouldn't be all rainbows and unicorns. It wouldn't always be happy, but we'd face it all together.

Every year, Aaron's mom organizes a team for the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk. The whole family gets together to walk in honor of Grandma Lorraine and to raise money for Alzheimer's research. It's held at the NEW Zoo, and we've taken the kids on the "zoo walk" every year. This year we had 37 walkers on our team! It's just a great time to remember those who live with this disease, and to help raise money for research and, hopefully one day, a cure.