"Steve and I found each other in midlife - both of us a bit weathered but willing, both ready for a second chance. Our bond was forged in trust and curiosity, and the outdoors was our refuge. We hiked, paddled, and talked... about everything. Anything. I was magnetically drawn to the way his brilliant mind searched for answers, pulling me deeper into the mysteries of the world around us."
"The day he knelt beside a shrinking puddle after a storm and guided tadpoles into deeper water - even as the sun pressed down, drying everything around us and threatening to erase them - was the day I knew I loved him. "Maybe something will happen to save them," he said. That was my Steve - quiet hope, steady heart, believing that good might still win, even against great odds."
"Steve's fiercely inquisitive mind began to show signs of confusion - cognitive changes that were unsettling but difficult to define. Our search for answers stretched on for years - a reality that is true for most who travel this path. Dementia wasn't even on the radar during those early days. He was in his 40s - vibrant, fit, full of life - and nothing about his physical health hinted at what was happening beneath the surface."
They found each other in midlife, both a bit weathered but ready for a second chance. Their bond formed through trust, curiosity, and outdoor activities like hiking and paddling. A decisive moment of love came when he guided tadpoles into deeper water amid drying heat, evidence of his quiet hope. His mind was brilliant, precise, pattern-driven, and committed to scientific progress. Subtle cognitive changes emerged — word-finding lapses and moments that didn't add up — and decline accelerated unpredictably. Repeated medical evaluations failed to identify the cause, and diagnosis was delayed partly by reluctance to give a younger person a diagnosis.
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