Unhappy Anniversary



Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. Last year DW jumped out of bed and gave me a big kiss and wished me a happy anniversary. This morning I told her happy anniversary and she had no reaction just continued to talk about something that made no sense. I guess this year is the beginning of unhappy anniversaries for me. Just another reminder that I am losing my dear wife day by day.
Comments
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I feel you pain. Keep the faith. This illness sucks and if your not living it no one understands
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My wife forgot we are married very early in her illness and hasn’t recognized our anniversary since 2018. This October will be our 49th.
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no one can till me this isn’t worse illness you can have.
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I'm so sorry and I understand. June 10th will be our 58th anniersary. I will take him a strawberry milkshake and a card but there will be no remembrance of it on his part. He will be surprised and then forget. It's sad and it hurts and yet we still love them so honor the day and try to remember the good times.
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Our 38th anniversary came and went at the end of May and I didn’t say anything to DH. It felt better to just let it go rather than say something to him and get no reaction. I fondly remembered our wedding day in my mind and moved on. Many holidays and other special days are becoming like this. 😞
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I totally understand. It’s been years since my LO has remembered our anniversary, my birthday, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day etc. Those days don’t even seem important anymore. I don’t feel like a wife, I’m a roommate, caregiver. Our marriage has mostly not been happy. At first when I had my three children it was fun. He hardly ever helped me with them though. We aren’t really compatible. I should have realized this 40 plus years ago. I find myself looking at other couples who are happy and wishing that we had been like them. He just makes everything so much more difficult, I know it’s not his fault. We are moving again to be closer to our daughter, I just can’t do this alone anymore. He has a caregiver once a week and a friend he sees twice a week so these breaks really help. Sorry this is so depressing.
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We had a big 60th anniversary last Fall. My DW, a retired psych nurse, said she wanted it to be wonderful because in the future she will no longer know what it is. We have pictures on wall - maybe to help us remember. Or no? To be seen.
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I don't even mention anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, or any special day it only depresses me and seams to confuses her. I can relate to you MontanagirlCA our marriage was great for the first 22 years and not so great for the last 23 years. I often wonder if it is harder for those that had that two becomes one kind of relationship seeing their other half slipping away or for us that feel trapped and are here out of commitment or responsibility or whatever it is. I do still truly care but my feeling are not what they were or what I wish they were.
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I do still truly care but my feeling are not what they were or what I wish they were.
I know exactly what you mean and feel the same way. I don't feel guilty about placing DW in MC, but those are the feelings that can induce guilt.
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so sorry. We know how you feel. Cherish the memories. 💜
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Perhaps, it's just a passing phase. She may surprise you next year, or the one after. Two years ago at the onset of this wretched journey, my husband said I was lying when I told him it was our anniversary. I even showed him our unity candle with our wedding invitation designed into it. He said it was fake. 😥 This year, we celebrated our 30th anniversary with much bittersweet memories. He doesn't remember our "dark" period, and there's no reason/need for him to remember. I told him to just remember all the happy good memories. (It's best that the carrier of all of our memories, good and bad, is with me, although I wish I could erase the bad.)
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My DH hasn’t remembered any important days for years. Sometimes it doesn’t matter and other times it feels so so lonely. Yet we carry on.
Last night he asked me if I knew Peggy (that’s me). I said, “yeah.” He said, “I think she died.”…Talk about a punch in the gut. He not only doesn’t know who I am, but he thinks I’m dead.
5
Commonly Used Abbreviations
DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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