The coming revolution/accommodation in marriage and adultery

HEALTH & WELLNESS: "Of Love and Alzheimer's: When Caregivers Find New Companions, Is It Adultery?" by Alicia Mundy, Wall Street Journal, 3 November 2009.

The movie "Away from Her" got Julie Christy an Oscar nom. It is excruciating to watch: Christy's character gets Alzheimer's, eventually has to go into a home, and once there, she takes up with another patient, basically forgetting her lifelong love and husband, who is crushed. In his agony, he ends up seeking a relationship with the wife of the second man.

It is all very brutal, but completely understandable: people still need to connect--especially when put under such stress.

I see a future of life extension in which these questions loom very large, creating all sorts of social dynamics beyond the current norm (if you have any widow relatives, you know what I'm talking about, as they tend to be constantly beset by male widowers who simply cannot handle being alone late in life [and who can blame them?]).

Complex stuff.

Comments

[Tom Mull]

Hey Tom: I work as a Maintenance-man in assisted living. For ten years I worked in a mixed independant/assisted. For the past 1 1/2 years I have worked in memory care assisted living. I have actually seen these sorts of situations. Sometimes two people meet who have dementia in a community. They both still have living spouses. They have forgotten that they are married and start a relationship with each other (sexual and all). Their spouses know what is going on but understand (there is a lot of pain in the process). I have come to the conclusion that adultery is a state of mind and you need a mind to have that state. And what about the mates that still have their wits? They find a variety of interesting ways to cope! =)

[large]

No one wants to die alone . . .