Anne Simpson and Laura Crosby had the opening of their exhibit at the Aslan Institute last Thursday evening. What spirit and energy there was. The exhibit runs through October.Following is the second narrative from Anne’s book ‘Growing Down,’ the Alzheimer’s journey of a husband and wife. Following the narrative is a poem from Anne’s book. You can read earlier installments here and here of this very personal and beautiful story.

II. Growing Down

One day, when I took Bob for a check-up, our local doctor motioned me aside and very gently said, ‘It’s time.’ I knew what he meant. It was time for us to leave our small community and move to Duluth where we would have more services available for help with Bob’s care. It had been our contingency plan for almost six years.We went to a continuing care community on the campus of St. Scholastica. There was adult day care available for Bob as well as additional help from some wonderful college students. We participated in monastery and college events, and we lived within a community of lively seniors.As the disease progressed, inevitably, it took more of our lives. Some of the changes and losses were painful indeed – especially Bob’s loss of vision. Bob was aware of what was happening to him; he said that he was ‘growing down.’ But still we were lucky because for almost four more years the decline was so gradual that I was able to keep Bob at home.

Bob’s Poem

Of me there is three -the one I amthe one you seethe one I want to be.