I too have told my husband that if I get dementia, he merely needs to point
out a few birds he knows each day, and I should be perfectly happy with a
new life bird. Good we all have a plan.



Kristin Stewart

Olympia



_____

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Sherry
Hagen
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 6:21 PM
To: Jeff Gibson; tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Alzheimers Birding Day



Very interesting and well written. I have joked with my husband that if he
ever gets Alzheimers I'll book him into the home up the street, put a feeder
in front of his window and he can start his life list over each day. Sad but
a joke at this time. Hope we never get there.




Sherry Hagen
Vancouver, WA
littlebirder at comcast.net



From: Jeff Gibson <mailto:gibsondesign at msn.com>

Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 8:36 AM

To: tweeters <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>

Subject: [Tweeters] Alzheimers Birding Day



Last year I floated (on beer) the idea of International Drunk Birding Day,
which had several benefits, one of which was waking up sober the next day
and maybe forgetting the whole event, and moving onward.



Alzheimer's Birding Day, on the other hand, is everyday for folks with the
affliction and their caregivers. That's just the way it is.



While my mom is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, my dad has some other form of
dementia. About 18 months ago he was the brains of this outfit. Now he's
even more out of it than mom. Dementia is really not too much fun.



Dementia creates a lot of fear, and when in fear people typically respond
with either Fight or Flight behavior, like most animals. Flight in
dementiaville is usually flat out denial, fight is battling with those who
don't agree with the demented view. Like mom, we don't need more raisin
bread, you just bought two loaves yesterday. Moms response these days to
such a helpful hint might be "screw you, you think you know everything!". Or
maybe some other response - you never know. Reason goes out the window. It's
very stressful.



Yet, even in the darkest hours, a balm is available - birds! It's
Alzheimer's Birding Day!



Around here we can go from total frustration, rage, bitter words, etc, to
peace love and sorta forgiveness in the instant it takes a hummingbird to
come up to the feeder just out the kitchen window. "Birdy!" my dad chirps,
forgetting that he was just yelling at me that he no longer wanted me in his
house, a moment before. And then some other bird fly's by, and we are all
'birding'.



Alzheimer's folks are known for remembering the past fairly well. If my
parents were hotshot life-lister's they could conceivably come up with some
long past event.....



" I remember that trip to Adak in 1960, and it was on my aunt Millie's
birthday, and we saw those funny-looking Parakeet Auklets. That was the trip
when our Aleut guide Ewok made up an Auklet omelet for breakfast. Remember!
"



But then my parents are not hotshot lister's -, so I pretty much get to
listen to little detailed stories about neighborhood life in Seattle of the
40's and 50's. Which can be interesting -the first few repetitions anyway.



Nope, my folks are pretty much feeder watchers, and window watchers, but it
is providing a welcome relief from our stresses. Oh sure, demented people
can hide their own Easter Eggs and all, but with Alzheimers Birding you can
see new birds every single day - right in your own yard! In fact some days
you can see the same species of bird for the first time just several hours
later, which is pretty exciting. And you can see many bird behaviors you've
never seen before! OK so you saw the same thing yesterday and just can't
remember, but who cares, because you just don't remember.



So when times get tough watch the birds, the sun on the water, the clouds
and mountains, the flowers and trees, and enjoy those gifts. If you forget
what that's like, you can do it all over again.



Jeff Gibson

Alzheimer Acres

Port Townsend Wa











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