Life with Maxie by Diane Rehm & Photographs by Cindy Bertaut

Author:Diane Rehm & Photographs by Cindy Bertaut
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Published: 2010-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Life Has a Way of Changing

When we first purchased our home back in 1967, I thought we’d be there forever. Even after the children left to create their own families, our house was just right for the two of us. We refurbished the entire interior of the house, remodeled the kitchen, created a beautiful patio, worked diligently to see the garden grow from an unkempt play yard to a magnificent flower-filled haven from the noise of the outside world, and we assumed we would continue to enjoy it. But life has a way of changing, and in our case, it changed a lot.

In 2004, John was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Mild though it may have been at the time, we realized we could not be sure of what lay ahead, and that we would inevitably face changes, both in our ability to navigate a four-story house as well as to maintain it. At first, John resisted. He wanted to stay in our home. And so did I! After all, our children had grown up in this home. We loved our neighbors and the neighborhood. I cherished memories of John, David, Jennie and all the neighborhood kids playing soccer in the street, watching Jennie learn to ride a unicycle, seeing David and his dad throwing a ball back and forth, welcoming trick-or-treaters on Halloween, and having our beautiful daughter’s wedding reception in our garden. Nevertheless, I knew the time had come. I began looking at condominiums soon after we received the diagnosis. Our children telephoned regularly to urge us to move to a safer environment without stairs to navigate, and to do it soon.

So I kept looking, though John continued to say he wouldn’t move. But one incident, perhaps brought on by medication, convinced him and me that the time had come. At about 3 a.m. one late summer morning, John arose from his bed, walked in his sleep, opened wide both the front and back doors, and went back upstairs to sleep, with no memory of what he’d done. When I went down in the morning and found both doors open, I knew we had to have both a change in medication as well as a change of residence. Faced with the reality of what he’d done, and hearing his children and me plead with him, John finally said, “You’re right. It’s time to move.”

Together, after nearly a year of searching, we eventually found the perfect apartment, complete with a gorgeous view of trees and lots of light. And the condo accepted small dogs. The real question was: would Maxie fit into a new way of living at a condo? After all, it would mean no more private garden. No more basking in the sunshine or chasing squirrels. No more running up and down the fence with the neighbor’s black Lab. No more being by himself and just with us all day long. Instead, elevators, doormen, receptionists, other residents, and other dogs. I was worried. Would he behave? Would he

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