The Healing Journey

June 12, 2025

Santo and Claire walking along the boardwalk at Silver Sands Park were a familiar sight. They walked hand-in-hand, smiling and laughing … so many years ago when life was simpler. They had been married a short time.

They say it goes by fast, but you don’t realize how fast until you look back and there are fewer years ahead of you than behind you, and you’ve stopped dreaming about the future and find yourself reminiscing about the past.

After years of marriage, Santo and Claire had four children and nine grandchildren. Their life had been a good one with many blessings, but then he developed Alzheimer’s, and even the memories that they cherished started slipping away.

It was Claire who cared for him during his years with Alzheimer’s, forever at his side. It was never easy and often frustrating, and every so often, she thought about the happy years they had together, and she told herself this period, however painful, was just another part of two lives together, well lived. When two people love each other, that love will last forever, no matter what.

When he died, they had been married 62 years. She regrets none of it and believes she will see her beloved husband again.
©J Pisani

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