I remember the day when Martha first told me about Eddie’s diagnosis.
It just didn’t seem possible that her husband could experience the ravages of frontotemporal degeneration (FTD, sometimes referred to as Pick’s Disease).
I’d worked for many years with Martha and had gotten to know her husband through social occasions. They became good friends of ours. We’ve known the couple for more than twenty years.
Eddie and Martha were flipsides of the same coin, different in many ways. Yet, they were bound together by more than fifty years of love and commitment, anchored in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Eddie was sharp, healthy, and resilient. But by the time we took a trip together to the mountains of North Carolina with some other friends a few months later, FTD was beginning to take its toll.
Eddie was more withdrawn; Martha was more attentive.
Fast-forward to today: sadly, through tears of grief and joy, we celebrated Eddie’s life last weekend.
I spoke at his funeral a few days ago.
This is what I shared.
What happens when you’re squeezed?
If you’re anything like me, you’re more than a little worried about what might spill out of you if or when you lose control of your faculties. Challenges don’t necessarily create new problems, but they almost always reveal ones already there.
When any of us gets “squeezed” by a difficult diagnosis or challenging days, what we’re made of often comes out. It’s not always pretty.
During that trip to North Carolina, I noticed something.
Occasionally, Eddie would just break into song. And he fancied himself a singer on par with Frank Sinatra, no less. We’d be walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant, and he’d just begin to sing—sometimes loudly.
I didn’t always recognize the tune. But his joy was unmistakable.
An indelible memory
One of the last times I was with Eddie, several of us had…
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