I Live You For Ever: Dementia in a Loving Marriage

"A beautiful memoir and a fierce testimony to the sacrifices we make in the name of love." — Kirkus Reviews, "Get It" Verdict

“An intimate and moving account of Meredith Rutter Marple’s years of navigating her husband’s dementia. Marple shows us all a path on a journey many of us will take, a path of love and strength, tenderness and deep insight.” — Lily King, author of Heart the Lover, Euphoria, and more

"I Live You For Ever ... is unique in its delivery. Meredith Rutter Marple writes about her relationship with Gary as though it were happening right now, which makes their connection even more believable and compelling." — Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite, 5-star review

"A tender, heartbreaking memoir that captures years of love even in fading memories." — Independent Book Review

"[L]ibrarians and readers need to place I Live You For Ever ahead of many others about dementia." — D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

I Live You For Ever is a candid and penetrating memoir chronicling Meredith Rutter Marple’s nine-year journey caring for her husband, Gary, as mixed dementia reshaped the fabric of their marriage. What began as small slips—forgotten directions, mental-math errors—unfolded into a relentless progression of symptoms associated with vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Lewy body dementia.

Drawing from her personal journals, Meredith captures the intimacy of conversations and the daily negotiations of love, anger, denial, and acceptance between partners bound together by decades of shared life. With honesty and compassion, she illuminates the dual tragedy of spousal dementia: the gradual fading of the ill partner and the parallel unraveling—and resilience—of the caregiving partner.

At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this memoir is both a testament to enduring love and a call to face the “what-ifs” of aging with courage and candor.