Dementia ~ Flying Blind In The Mountains

 The Gambler was wrong every hand is not a winner.

The Life And Times of Brian Waddington

Original Shot

The above image is only a small rectangle of the original. It isn't even what first caught my eye. It is however, what I am for now going with. I just couldn't get the original shot to work. 

Then again I haven't got the small rectangle to work yet either. So here I am with no blogging output for the last how many days and no decent image to enhance a much needed blog. 

Isn't it amazing how creating images and creating a life march hand in hand down the aisle.

I can't count the number of times that I have been sure that I was on the the right path to wake up one night realizing that somewhere along the journey the right path had turned into a swampy mess. That was usually the time I would remember the golden rule of flying in the mountains. 

'Always remember how to get back to where you knew where you were '

Using the golden rule means that you can only become misplaced. By simply turning around and flying a reciprocal course you soon find yourself back to where you were when you knew where you were. Then you decide to continue towards home or to try again.

Flying, Life, creating Images it's all the same. You have to be able to get back to where it started to go wrong to have a chance of making it go right. 

This is what makes living with mild Dementia such a challenge. It's like I'm flying in the mountains and suddenly all my charts vanish. How do I go forward? How do I get back to where I was when I knew where I was? And it's not just my problem. How does M'Lady cope with my wandering mind? How does she adjust to my our her new reality when I'm flying blind?

Over the years we have developed tried and true ways and means to keep our relationship on an even keel. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say that the techniques were grounded in 'consistency'. Neither of us are saints but we are at least consistent in our pluses and minuses. Now I'm no longer consistent. 

It's hard to win a game where the rules keep changing. Not impossible but awful hard.

Brian