When you're a parent, two years usually feels like it goes by in a flash. As time goes on, it becomes harder to remember what your child was like in the prior stage of his/her life. Looking at pictures and watching videos is helpful, but you can rarely recall what it truly felt like to be in those moments years later.
The baby you once soothed to sleep and took monthly pictures of is soon a toddler- talking and moving nonstop. Soon, they are starting school and making friends, then, before you know it, is a teenager or young adult that brings on the nostalgic feelings of your own youth while you think, How did this happen? And where has the time gone?
I think it's fair to say that the last two years are a complete blur, and for most of us it's hard to remember what life was like before the Covid pandemic. Some of us were faced with adjusting to home-based jobs and online learning, as well as changes in our daily routines and social lives. There were also many people who have been directly impacted by the virus and faced additional hardships of illness, ailing health, or grief from the loss of loved ones.
The pandemic has changed all of our lives, and while many of us have come to find the positive aspects brought on by the pandemic- from having more time at home, appreciating our loved ones, reconnecting with friends from the past, and taking time for ourselves and families- it has presented many challenges that resulted in feelings of confusion, isolation, and loss of control.
For our family, we found ourselves faced with both the good and bad.
To remind you, it was a little over two years, in October 2019, that we finally found a reason for my husband's years-long health issues and received the diagnosis of Behavioral-variant Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD).
While we were immediately comforted by the generous and loving support in our family, friends, and so many more in our community, we also struggled to digest the information and figure out how to best support my husband's needs and understand exactly what it meant to have a diagnosis of FTD. After years of watching his health decline and searching for answers, we always remained hopeful for a treatment that would take all of his struggles away.
This was all happening while we fought to appeal a denial from his long-term disability insurance (who like many others didn't want to believe that a younger person like him could have a form of dementia) and providing care for my then three-year-old daughter and thirty-six-year old husband, who I could barely recognize anymore with his unkempt beard, glazed eyes, and childlike behavior.
To tell you the truth, I can barely remember that time in ours lives besides flashbacks of living in my in-laws house having absolutely no idea what the future would hold for us.