WEBVTT

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My father-in-law
has Alzheimer's.

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And he-- we do a lot
of the caretaking.

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So he lives with us maybe two
months or three months out

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of the year.

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And this is a prose poem about
some difficult moments when he

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was being diagnosed
with Alzheimer's.

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And at the same time, my
husband's ex-girlfriend

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had passed away
suddenly, and no one

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would take her cats
in New York City.

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And he had lived with these
cats, and they were old.

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They're 15.

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And he was like, we
got to take them.

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We've never been cat people.

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And I was like,
yeah, I mean, they're

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not going to-- no one's
going to take these cats.

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So we got-- he drove 12 hours
to New York City and came back.

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And all of this happened three
weeks before our wedding.

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[LAUGHTER]

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"The Last Drop."

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You've left your dad in Virginia
with your brother after taking

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him to the neurologist to
confirm that it is, in fact,

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Alzheimer's.

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Now, you're driving
to New York to get

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your dead ex-girlfriend's
cats who need a home.

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And even though we weren't
planning on cats, they're 15.

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And who's going
to take them now?

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And you know them already.

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And why not give
some animals a home

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even if it's another 20 hours
of driving there and back?

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I tell Manuel
about your travels,

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and he says, "It's a good
premise for a horrible road

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trip dark--

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horrible road trip
dark comedy movie."

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And there is something
funny about it.

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Your father hates cats,
but they love him.

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And I've spent a long time
envious of your ex-girlfriend's

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beauty, and now,
I only miss her.

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And I want to love
her cats for her.

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My memoir could be titled
Everything Was Fine until It

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Wasn't.

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My memoir could be called
I Thought I Wanted a Baby,

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but All I Got Was Your Dead
Ex-Girlfriend's Two Old Cats.

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[LAUGHTER]

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My memoir could be
called Before the Wedding

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You Must Suffer a Little.

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My mother's motto is
"Nothing Is Easy."

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And I tease her for
it, but it's true.

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Before he left, your dad said
he didn't understand the saying,

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"Good to the last drop."

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"Does that mean the
last drop is bad?"

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He said.

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"No," I reassured.

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"It means all of it is good.

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Every single drop
of it is good."

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