From the New York Times, a thoughtful analysis of the relationship between former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and her husband John, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The O’Connor family reported this week that Mr. O’Connor has a relationship with a woman whom he met in an assisted-living center, and his wife is happy that he is happy.

Writer Kate Zernike points out that the O’Connors’ story of what she calls “old love” comes as a surprise in a society that is more concerned with the breathless rapture of “young love.”

The O’Connors’ story, she says, “revealed a poignancy and a richness to love in the later years, providing a rare model at a time when people are living longer, and loving longer.

… “There’s a difference between love as it is presented in movies and music as this jazzy sexy thing that involves bikini underwear and what love actually turns out to be,” said the psychologist Mary Pipher, whose book “Another Country” looked at the emotional life of the elderly.

… “Young love is about wanting to be happy,” she said. “Old love is about wanting someone else to be happy.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 11:59 am and is filed under alzheimer's, caregivers, celebrities, families. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post