Rejected by her family, Diane was sent to a repressive Minnesota girls’ reformatory at fourteen. Years later, determined to take her life in a new direction, she trekked into a mountain wilderness. We met there by chance, and a year later we married. We spent fifty years together, sharing passionate commitment, heartbreak, and joy. This is our story of life together, especially the enthusiastic, loving woman Diane was until dementia devastated her. Over the years, she wrote a frank, honest account of her life with thoughtful insights into her own actions and mistakes. This book tells her part of the story in her own words. I cared for Diane at home until dementia gradually erased her passion, drive, and personality, and finally ended her life. Afterwards my surviving daughter Lauren and I took a 9,000 mile journey together to complete a sacred circle, to scatter Diane’s ashes where I met her, and embark on a pilgrimage to prepare for the new world we must enter. We would rebuild our relationship, reconnect with our past, and seek a new future.