I am sure you have seen, or read other blogs, or the TV advertisements, magazine articles, etc about the Memory Walk.

I’ve been a team member on other “walks” and after each event, I always have a feeling that I’ve been a part of something good. I’ve never been a Team Captain but in looking at the page - I think it’s something that even I could do, and anyone can be on the team - from your kids to your mother, to your next door neighbor.

From the website: The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk® is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research – and it calls on volunteers of all ages to become champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. There are walks in more than 600 communities. A typical Memory Walk is a 2-3 mile walk held on a weekend morning in the fall.

By teaming up with the Alzheimer’s Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer’s. Together, we can MOVE a nation. Since 1989 the Memory Walk has raised over $225 million.

I don’t know if I have ever told the story about visiting my Great-Grandma B in the nursing home. Every Sunday after church my family would go and see her for about 45 minutes and then take her down to the main dining hall. I loved and cherish the memories I have of my Great-Grandma B. But not a single one of my siblings can talk about our visits without mentioning “Wilma”.

Wilma was a resident at the nursing home, and unfortunately she had Alzheimer’s. There were days when she would tell us to go collect the eggs, or to exercise the horses - being young and not really sure what to do - we would always say “yes ma’am” and walk past her room. It was so sad when her daughter or son would visit, and she wouldn’t recognize them, yet she would see me or my brother (thinking we were her kids) and tell us to do the chores. Her children understood it was the disease. To watch a family go through it, makes it all so hard and sad.

Together we can find a cure.