Stories from the past aren’t quite the same

I heard a new story from Dave’s past recently. Hopefully I understood what happened.

I won’t go into the details, but it was a story about what probably was an old girlfriend.

Dave has always been known for telling stories. Having been his wife for 26 years, I’ve heard most of these stories. 😀 Dave never got tired of telling his stories to people, hopefully without repeating himself too often.

The story he told me recently was from his college years. I could tell that it made sense in his head, but there were some big gaps. So I asked him some questions and figured out what the story was about. As is often the case, it was a little bit funny and a little bit self-deprecating. And amazing since it probably happened about 37 years ago.

Dave’s long-term memory is vivid but disjointed. Lately, he’s had a hard time telling those stories. Fortunately, I’ve heard many of them, and I am able to fill in the gaps since usually I’ve heard them before.

I give him the space in time to finish his ideas, even though it is very hard for me not to jump in with a detail or two. I’m just so grateful that he’s able to still have these conversations, and I hope that he will be able to for years to come. But who knows? This disease has already moved way faster than I ever thought it would.