How long? How long?

So long.  62 years my Mom and Dad have been married this year.  They have known each other for nearly 70 years now.  Mom is leaving us slowly, inch by inch as dementia takes its toll.  Dad is looking frailer as he struggles to show his love and patience to this woman he married so long ago.

A portrait to treasure, to hold with joy, and to weep over...

“I'm so sorry I have this. I can't stand the thought of how much worse this is going to get. I can't stand the thought of looking at you someday, and this face I love, and not knowing who you are."

She traced the outline of his jaw and chin and the creases of his sorely out of practice laugh lines with her hands. She wiped the sweat from his forehead and the tears from his eyes. 

"I can barely breathe when I think about it. But we have to think about it. I don't know how much longer I have to know you. We need to talk about what's going to happen."

He tipped his glass back, swallowed until there was nothing left, and then sucked a little more from the ice. Then he looked at her with a scared and profound sorrow in his eyes that she'd never seen there before.

"I don't know if I can.” 
― Lisa Genova, Still Alice