On a balmy weekday afternoon around the time spring was melting into summer, my partner and I made plans to meet up after work. We picked a spot in my neighborhood, which happens to be near the Nationals baseball stadium. As we sipped our beers and chatted about the week, my partner, Ben, saw two of our friends, Tom and Hannah, on their way to a baseball game. He waved them down and invited them to join us before the opening pitch.
It would have been a perfectly forgettable evening—pleasant and ordinary. DC is small enough that it's not too uncommon to run into friends. We hadn't seen Tom and Hannah for a bit, and I knew Tom had been visiting his hometown in Connecticut. "How's your family doing?" I asked.
Tom and Hannah exchanged glances.
"Actually, not great," he said.
A few months ago, he shared, his dad had abruptly lost his short-term memory. He'd be doing something like cooking a meal and forget what he was doing; he'd put the stove on and leave the room, or he'd be driving and forget where he was going. He was only 61.
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https://qz.com/1754535/how-to-talk-to-loved-ones-with-dementia/
