still faustina; i thank You, God

Tonight, I had a brother and sis-in-law to my right -

Tony and Laura, specifically -

as well as a brother and sis-in-law to my left -

Smitty and Mary, naturally -

and we were all there this Wednesday evening at Compassion East for a movie I'd never seen.

Nor had they, but that's not nearly as rare an occurrence. 

I'm glad we were all together, as a family, for this one.

Right place, right time.

"Still Alice", from 2014, is about familial Alzheimer's disease, and, unlike other films of this ilk, it concentrated on an honest portrayal of the effect of the disease on the other members of the family and on their relationships with the one with the disease.

That was the mom, played beautifully by Julianne Moore, who had been a linguistics professor in the prime of her career - her 40's - before receiving the diagnosis.

I'm glad I was there.

I'm glad I've been through the work with our family history and lineage.

I was able to assure my brothers that diseases of the brain are not in our heritage.

Sure, we still have genetic bugaboos to haunt our future - intestinal cancers on both sides of the family, liver disease, pancreatic cancer - but our minds stay intact as we age.

i thank You, God.