Everyone knows that aging is part of living, but it can still be hard to watch at times. My grandfather, "Bodaddy" as the younger ones call him, has had Alzheimer's Disease for the last few years, and each year the disease takes away more and more from this amazing man. He still has a loving heart and gentle smile; even the disease can't take away these things. It also can't take away the memories we have as a family growing up with him and spending summers at the lake with him and my grandmother before she passed away years ago. Right now, he is living in a memory care facility and so we celebrated his 85th birthday there with the whole family. It was the first time some of them have seen him in 6 months, so I know he was excited; even if he couldn't find the words to express it. The innocence of the little ones, the great-grandchildren, revealed how we should all still see him and think of him, as a great man who would give anything for his family. For they don't see the disease, they just see the best grandfather any child could wish for. One that now lives in a "big house" with a lot of "friends". We could all learn a lot from these little ones as they share unconditional love that does not change with circumstances.
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