Jeff and Jane, Boston mid-1960s
"While the love of nature is written on Jane's expression as she looks into the dreamy blue skies, my bearded face points right at the camera."
My beautiful Jane
With Jane’s perennial smile,
and her looking right at me, even now as I look at the photo, it would have been impossible not to fall in love with her.
In 1963, during Jeff's first year as a doctoral student in the field of neurobiology at Harvard University, he met Jane Jerome, a recent arrival from Berkeley where she had completed her masters in medieval history. Jeff loved reading, studying, and exploring the intricacies of the human brain.
Jane loved Eastern philosophies, the outdoors and standing on mountaintops. They both loved music. They both loved each other. Being unconventional, Jane found an 83 year old Chinese Buddhist priest who married them not once - but twice.
His blessing served Jeff and Jane throughout their marriage, during good times and the bad.
"Love each other for what you are, and forgive each other for what you ain't."
Care for the Carer
AN ALZHEIMER'S MEMOIR
is essential reading for anyone facing the emotional and physical complexities
of caring for a loved one and at the same time learning to care for oneself.
Two soft smiles - how I treasure such moments, presumably (but not certain) before the onset of Jane's awareness of symptoms.
After completing his PhD at Harvard, Jeff and Jane moved to Ithaca, New York. Jeff ultimately became a tenured full professor at Cornell University and recipient of both a Guggenheim and a Fulbright Scholarship. Jane took a break from academics and turned her attention to her Jewish roots when she was appointed director of Hillel at neighboring Ithaca College.
In nature, that both Jane and I loved, this photo captures us just before, or slightly into, the period of Jane's initial Alzheimer's symptoms.
After Jeff's sabbatical year in Jerusalem, they made the adventurous decision to pack up and move to Israel. Jeff would be a tenured full professor at Hebrew University.
...in so many ways Jane had given our lives direction. It was thanks to her that we were now directing our shared gaze to the East...
At the age of 65, Jane set off to climb the Himalayan Mount Annapurna. She was accompanied by her close friend and fitness coach, Naomi, much her younger.
Just after Jeff's retirement, he set off with Jane to Japan for a celebratory vacation. For the first time Jeff noticed several peculiarities in Janes behavior. He was shocked to learn later that a decade before, while in the Himalayas, Naomi first noticed Jane becoming easily disoriented.
With Jane sitting in her wheelchair, her face indicating confusion if not distress , I'm looking relaxed and supportive. No doubt, though, inside I was deeply distressed.
After Jane passed away, filled with loving memories, Jeff remembered sitting at the piano. As his fingers swept across the keyboard, he glanced sideways and imagined Jane in her wheelchair listening. It was the type of musical moment they had often shared during her illness.
CARE for the CARER
is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon, Ingram, Barnes & Nobles, Apple, Kobo and numerous book stores.
ISBN: 979-8-88747-098-6 (paperback) ISBN: 979-8-88747-099-3 (ebook) LCCN: 2023910958
Copyright (C) Jeff Camhi, 2024. All rights reserved.
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