WestVirginiaVille

Her name was Amy. And his name? She called him ‘Allie.’ But that wasn’t who he really was in his heart of hearts. His true name was written with a ‘Z.’ And a slash! A tale of bruising love.

There’s nothing special about this tale of a parent with Alzheimer’s except that, being a writer, I have the chance to write about my mother dying. A thousand other families reading this are going through the same anguished motions.

So, if my mother had not died from Alzheimers, she’d have celebrated her 82nd birthday today. But she did die, in 2002, of this merciless affliction. Therein lies the explanation for this downloadable song.

Walker DeVille and Abdullah flee the Buddhist temple and head to a 17th century Paris flat for Christmas. His mother wants him home, but he’s not coming. Walker reads a postcard from Davin back in Lagos from bullet-riddled Chad.

“Monastery Nights” is an Occasional Memoir of Visits to the Bhavana Society Buddhist Monastery in West Virginia and Encounters with Abbot Bhante Gunaratana. See new excerpts each Thursday on WestVirginiaVille.com.

Abdullah was on fire. This was not something new. Abdullah’s pants — more specifically, his pant cuffs — had caught fire before on the construction site of the Buddhist temple in a Parisian suburb.

“November 4, 1985, may just be another day to most of you,” writes Matthew Burns, “but it will forever be imprinted in my psyche as the day that defined my life.”