You’re Not Alone: Pull Out Those Old Albums

By Skip Cohen

“This is what I like about photographs.
They’re proof that once, even if just for a heartbeat, everything was perfect.”
-Jodi Picoult

My goal when I started writing the You’re Not Alone Chronicles was to share ideas we learned helping my mother in her fight with Alzheimer’s. 

One of the most fun things to do was pull out old photographs. Like most families, pictures were everywhere, from shoe boxes to organized albums. No matter how many memories were slowly disappearing, an old album brought out so many wonderful moments with “Mom.”

Regardless of who in your family is fighting the battle, somebody has to become the family historian. However, the responsibility extends far beyond simply pulling out old photographs. You need to have some fun with the challenges of old photos and make it into a legacy project.

1. Get organized. No matter what was on my mother’s mind, old photographs brought out great stories about her, our family and friends. But they needed to be collected and all in one easy access place.
2. Take notes. As we went through all the old photographs, none of us ever wrote anything down. Now, long after both my folks are gone, there’s nobody left who knows the people or the events captured in the old photographs.
3. Record audio and video moments. With today’s technology, we all have the ability to record video. You don’t have to be a Hollywood producer to capture award-winning performances of loved ones taking a walk down memory lane. 
4. Don’t wait. Whether diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia, EVERY family needs a historian to capture all the stories of their most senior members. These stories will become invaluable in the future, especially when those senior loved ones have passed on.

As my mother’s Alzheimer’s progressed, even on days when she didn’t know what she’d done minutes earlier, we could pull out an old photograph of her college sorority and she could name just about every woman in the picture!

There’s one more huge benefit to old photographs and videos – they provide a degree of emotional respite for the caregiver. We’d laugh over Mom’s stories, but even better was the smile that each photograph put on her face.

Nothing can take away the pain of a loved one being robbed of their memories by Alzheimer’s, but old photographs bring with them emotions that allow you to travel back to a time when, as author Jodi Picoult put it, “everything was perfect.”

The Alzheimer’s Association Helpline is available 24/7 at 800.272.3900 or visit alz.org.

About Me

Skip Cohen has been directly involved in the Alzheimer’s battle and supporting the challenges of aging since moving to Sarasota fourteen years ago. Today he serves as Director for the Memory Care Alliance which is focused on support for caregivers and patients fighting Alzheimer’s.