Category Archives: Meditations

How can anyone work all day around people with Alzheimer’s or dementia?

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Jon Wagner

Are you genuinely curious, or just expressing relief that you don’t have to do this kind of work? If you’re curious, we can tell you what we’ve experienced as volunteer caregivers for friends and family members. We can also describe … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Meditations, Strategies | Comments Off on How can anyone work all day around people with Alzheimer’s or dementia?

Seeing Selectively

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Jon Wagner

We’ve had this table and these chairs for 20 years or so. I never tire of looking at how they come together from different angles in the changing light from the window behind.  That appreciation involves both my head and … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Seeing Continuities

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Jon Wagner

The view from my hospital room the morning after a heart procedure. The version of myself that sees the physical world in terms of light, color, lines, and forms has a lot of vitality, but it’s pretty specialized, somewhat obsessive, … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What can you do if he’s just talking nonsense?

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Jon Wagner

When you say ‘nonsense,’ do you mean vocalizations that are never formed into words, like when we moan or cry out, sigh or smack our lips? Or the fish mouth, cooing and gitchey-gitchey-goo sounds we use with infants and intimate … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Meditations, Stories | Comments Off on What can you do if he’s just talking nonsense?

My Cousin Leslie’s Lunch Plate

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Jon Wagner

My Cousin Leslie’s Lunch Plate — Thursday, July 5, 2018 I took this photo of what was left on my cousin Leslie’s lunch plate when I visited with her on Thursday July 5, 2018. If we compared it to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations | Leave a comment

Hand Chatting

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Jon Wagner

When she could still walk and stand, I held my cousin Leslie’s hand to steady and support her. It was also comforting and pleasurable for me, and I think for her, but I never thought about it as more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations | Leave a comment

Inferring She’s There

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Jon Wagner

I made this video while visiting my cousin Leslie in her first memory care residence. It was a nice day, and we’d spent most of an hour or so in the courtyard, sitting with our backs to several trees and … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations | Leave a comment

Mind the Gaps

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Jon Wagner

Every photograph frames a story about people who are no longer present, at least not in the same way. The story involves anyone who made the photograph or is visible in it. Some photographs also suggest absences other than those … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations | Leave a comment

Does she still recognize you?

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

One of the questions Lisa and I were asked most frequently by people who knew her mom had Alzheimer’s, but hadn’t visited, was “Does she still recognize you?” It sounds like a straightforward question, and in some sense, maybe it … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations, Questions | Comments Off on Does she still recognize you?

Amanda Petrusich on Aretha Franklin

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

In the August 16, 2018 issue of the New Yorker, Amanda Petrusich opened her review and appreciation of Aretha Franklin’s work with the following sentence. I haven’t read anything since that better frames the challenge of thinking one’s self through … Continue reading →

Posted in Meditations | Leave a comment