How do you love, honor and cherish…til death do you part…when the one you love…does not know who you are.
Let us first learn the true meaning of Cherish:
To treat with tenderness and affection; to give warmth, ease or comfort to.
Now Honor:
A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high
estimation by words or actions
And last but not least, Love:
Love is self-sacrificing, generous, unending, not a temporary feeling or attraction.
We must CHERISH, giving warmth, ease and comfort to the one who has dementia.
We must make sure all of our words and actions show the highest level of HONOR, respect and dignity.
We must give unconditional LOVE, not by our feelings that moment but for unending
OH GOODNESS….what a tough job ahead of us as we journey through this disease called dementia.
We must learn how to HONOR that person’s needs in a way that he would now, in this journey of dementia, still feel your love. Remind yourself daily that YOU are loved and Cherished….and that he wants this same love and feeling of being cherished.
As humans we all have daily needs that must be fulfilled by human touch. That does not change because one has a form of dementia.
Walk into their world as you love them. They may not know who you are today…but they will remember you are the beautiful woman who they desired to be their bride. Validate them where they are. Move at their pace and within their world for those moments.
Learn what their love languages are:
Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual, Touch
Quality Time Spent when together
Words of Validation
Words of Gentleness and Kindness
Dementia does not take away the ability to love…nor the desire to be loved!
