Creatively Aging

There are benchmarks in time that are shared by all. Do you remember where you were were…when man walked on the moon (I date myself with that one)? In my chosen field it could be do you remember where you were when Ronald Reagan wrote the nation of his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Diease?

Now last week’s paper brought an echo of that in the sudden retirement of Chief Judge Karen Williams of t U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. At 57 at a grand professional height, Chief Judge Williams announced that she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and is leaving the bench so that her legal decisions cannot be questioned. It is an honorable action for her to take professionally; it is a brave thing to do it in public. She was the first female chief judge on the Fourth Circuit and her career has broken many ceilings but this, this public acknowledgement of a private and person matter,  is yet another glass ceiling. Thank you, Madam Chief Judge, for reminding us all that a diagnosis is just a diagnosis. Alzheimer’s Disease is a heartbreaking diagnosis but it is not greater than the person themselves. And you are one class act.