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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. Joanna Fix was in her early 40s and at the height of her career as a psychology professor when she started having memory issues. It took five years for her to be diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. Just before that news, Joanna signed up for a dating website, and that is how she met Forrest, the man who would become her husband.
FORREST FIX: I got an email on the website. All it said was, hi there.
JOANNA FIX: (Laughter).
F FIX: So I wrote back. Turns out...
J FIX: My dog pressed the keyboard.
F FIX: And it automatically generates a message that says, hi there.
J FIX: Well, my dog thought you were cute. When we met, I remember just how much fun we had.
F FIX: Yeah.
J FIX: And from that first date, I told you something was up medically but that I didn't know what was going on with me. I wanted to give you an out, you know. Now's a good time to run if you want to put those sneakers on. I'm sure you didn't expect for this person 12 years younger than you to have Alzheimer's disease. But the day that I got my diagnosis, I remember calling you from the parking lot, and you said, OK, you were leaving work early and you'd meet me at home.
F FIX: The diagnosis, that was almost a relief 'cause we had an answer.
J FIX: You called my dad that day.
F FIX: Yeah. I wanted to ask for his blessing to marry you. I've been in love with you since the day we met. And there's no cure. But whatever happens, it's all about learning how to live with it and not die from it.
J FIX: That's how I feel, too. And it's not easy living with this. You know, starting fires every time I wanted to cook something was...
F FIX: It kind of concerned me a little bit.
J FIX: (Laughter).
F FIX: But you've done amazing. I've never been more proud of anyone than I have you.
J FIX: You know, I wouldn't change anything...
F FIX: Yeah.
J FIX: ...Because it's so good, even with the pits of despair here and there. We don't stay in that space. I may, you know, call you by my brother-in-law's name, but you know that it doesn't mean that I don't feel that it's you, that I don't recognize your spirit. And that's the thing that will be there until the last flame is out. So I just couldn't ask for a better life than the one I'm living right now.
F FIX: Nor could I. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather spend my life with than you.
INSKEEP: Forrest and Joanna Fix for StoryCorps in Colorado Springs. They've been married for eight years, and their recording is archived in the Library of Congress.
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