Compassion Without Passion

Dear Lonely,
I'm sorry you are in such a terrible situation. Finding yourself the caretaker for a brain-damaged spouse is one of the toughest things that can befall a married person. Please read this story from the Washington Post, written by my friend Susan Baer about a situation similar to yours. Robert Melton was a talented reporter and editor at the Washington Post (and a colleague of my husband?s) when in 2003, at age 46, he had a heart attack that caused a severe, permanent brain injury from oxygen deprivation. His wife, Page, was in her 30s and was left with two small daughters and a husband who was like a child. Eventually she placed Robert in assisted living. She and the girls visited frequently, and Page thought this was her life. But a few years later at a reunion, she reconnected with a former classmate, and eventually they fell in love. She divorced Robert and remarried. But there?s a stunning and moving twist. Robert?s family was at the wedding to support Page, and when her new husband, Allan, spoke his vows he said that he would always help care for Robert. Robert moved across the country with them, where he is in another assisted living facility. The two men have breakfast weekly, and Robert is often at the house visiting his daughters.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c2ff60640ee291bc707110ca27ad2602

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