“Morris Friedell, who has Alzheimers disease . . . has written: We who have Alzheimers can appreciate clouds, leaves, flowers as we never did before.. . .

People who find themselves suffering with Alzheimers sometimes experience the freshness of life that can last for a while and, before they deteriorate to the next phase of the disease, can really be quite profound. The way it was expressed to me is that people would see the color of a beautiful flower and theyd look away and theyd see the flower again but it wouldnt be againit would be the experiencing of the initial beauty of that color and that natural form for the first time. And there is something profound about that type of experience as opposed to experiencing something for the thirtieth or fortieth or one hundredth time and have it become quite numbing and deadening. Habit sometimes smothers life. But when you experience this for the first time, it can be quite overwhelming and awesome.”

—Jonathan Cott, from On the Sea of Memory: A Journey from Forgetting to Remembering, 2005.