HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEN HOUSE!

 My younger brother turned mumblely-mumble years old today.  A whip-smart MIY-trained computer engineer, Ken is the type of brother many of wish we had -- kind, compassionate, funny, talented, athletic, almost as good-looking as I am, and second only to me in being an international sex symbol.  And the sumbitch can sing and play instruments, unlike someone we know who has a totally no musical talent other than turning on a radio, and that with great difficulty.  Nos, sadly, very sadly,* he's fighting the biggest challenge of his life as he fights Alzheimer's.  When he was first diagnosed, his first reaction was sadness, followed by acceptance.  Que sera, sera.  This, because he is Ken, was followed by a fierce determination to live his best life as long as he could.  In this he is supported long-distance from Arizona by hos eldest daughter Lizzie, and back home, by his beloved wife Carmen and his youngest daughter Julie, and Tom, her husband; added to the mix are his two granddaughters, Lily Maria and Emma, both of whom are capable of bringing so such joy to him.  I'm  not sure how much they will remember as they get older, but I hope the memory of "Bumpa" playing with them, singing to them, and reading to them will remain with them.  The future does not bode well for Ken, who% is also getting frailer, but as long as there is a spark of Ken within him, and beyond, we will stand by him, love him, and cherish all that he has given us.

It seems like every day I read about some possible advance in the detection of Alzheimer's, in determining the cause of this terrible disease, and in promising experiments and treatments in delaying or, possibly, stopping this  miserable scourge.  Whatever is happening today is happening too late for Ken, but hopeful steps are being made and I sincerely hope -- and I know that Ken also hopes -- that people in the not too distant future will never have to suffer as he has.  But we are also at a time where self-serving, low information, anti-science, and callous people are influencing our government, our health cafe system, and our very lives.  Because of this we are inches away from losing our herd immunity to infectious diseases and very close to taking major steps backward in vital research.  I weep.  but I also hope that we, as a people, will soon wake up.