Blue Hydrangeas: an Alzheimer's Love Story

     Blue Hydrangeas: An Alzheimer's Love Story by Marianne Sciucco is a real love story.  Not a true love story, but a real one.  

     I think love is the subject most written about in all of history.  Listen to the radio - almost all the songs you hear will be about love.  The greatest plays ever written are about love.  Countless movies and books have been written on the subject.  Almost every fairy tale ever told is about love.  It's the thing we most crave.  People need food, water, and shelter to survive.  They need love to live.  That is why it is a universally sought after... thing.  The only problem with the plays, music, books, movies, etc. is that they only seem to catch the first glimpse of love.  Most would call it infatuation, puppy love, or even lust, in most cases.  My favorite appellation for it is twitterpated.  What most people don't realize is that those rushed feelings of deep emotion are only the tip of the iceberg... the door to love, if you will.  Real love starts where most relationships leave off, after that initial rush goes away.  After the first big fight, or the big wedge of different lives trying to mesh together.  After the excitement of finding out everything about the person you are so enthralled with.  That's when true love begins to grow; when you have to work for it.  You have to begin sacrificing, not just superficially, but truly sacrificing because that person is worth way so much more than whatever else is going on in your life.  That is what Blue Hydrangeas is about. 

     Before I get into the review, I just wanted to say what a truly wonderful portrayal of life with someone with Alzheimer's Mrs. Sciucco painted for the reader.  My grandfather had Alzheimer's disease.  I was little, and don't remember much, but I do remember his confusion.  We'd be at Grandma and Grandpa's house, watching T.V., and suddenly he'd yell at us for being in his house.  

     "What are you kids doing in my house!"

     "Grandpa, we're your grandkids,"we'd say.

     "Who's kids are you," he'd ask.

     "We're Paul's kids."

     "That's right," He'd say.  Then he'd go back to watching T.V. like nothing had happened, only to repeat the conversation several minutes later.  

     I remember thinking that he was being silly sometimes.  Sometimes he'd scare us.  Sometimes he'd worry us, but mostly he was just Grandpa, and we knew he was sick.  Unlike in this great novel, my Grandmother was not able to keep Grandpa at home. She got breast cancer, and couldn't take care of him for the last months of his life.  When he died, the nurses said he'd been calling out her name all through the night.  I remember thinking how scared he must have been, knowing how confused he was most of the time, at not having his beloved wife there to comfort him as his spirit left him.

     I share this because Mrs. Sciucco paints a perfect picture of what it is really like to live with such a person.  The experiences Jack and Sara and their family go through are all too familiar to me.  I read her bio and found out that she was a nurse, and worked with Alzheimer's patients, so it all makes sense.  Thank you, Mrs. Sciucco for bringing light to this difficult disease.  It's more than just being forgetful.  It really affects the lives of everyone around the patient.

    Okay, on to the review.  Sara has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She's scared of losing everything she's worked her whole life to build -  family, friends, their home - so she makes Jack (her husband) promise that he won't allow her to be put into a home.  Jack vows that he will keep them together no matter what.

     As is, sadly, the case in most such instances, everyone wants to intervene on their behalf.  Jack finds that to keep his vow, he has to battle his confused wife and her constantly failing state of mind, his own children, doctors, nurses, and case workers.  Everyone seems to "know" what is best for the old couple.  They are all kind people, and are trying to do what is best for the couple, but Jack can't bear to be away from his one true love.

     With his failing heart, he finally gives in to the pressure of all of those around him, but when the day comes for him to take his dear Sara to the care facility, she has a lucid day.  He can't bear to break his promise to her while she's aware of what he's doing.  Instead, he decides to take her around the cape, where they live, and try to rekindle memories, and their life-long love.

     This story is warming to the heart, and though it's not the twitterpated kind of love you see so prevalent in the world today, it's a story of true love.

     I know my mom would especially love this book, and I know she's reading this blog so, Mom, I'd get it for you and Doug to read.  For the rest of my readers, It's a great book, click the link at the beginning of this post to get it on amazon.

     I give this novel