.......Elaine stopped crying on the way home but appeared anxious, and kept asking him what day it was.

He hesitated to say the date, conjecturing that at least part of her current emotional state was because she hadn’t realized it was their anniversary. With her dementia he didn’t think a thing of it, but worried she might become upset with herself.

“Today is Wednesday.”

She furrowed her brow, a tell-tale sign she was struggling to grasp some distant memory or word.

When she asked what day it was for the third time during their twenty-minute drive, he gave in. “It’s Wednesday, January 7th.”

“That’s the day we got married!”

“Yes, it is,” he said, pulling up into their...