Silent House by the Dixie Chicks

I was watching the Dixie Chicks on VH-1's Storytellers series the other night. They were talking about their song, Silent House. I have the CD that this song is on (Taking the Long Way) and am sure I must have played this song at least a couple of times, but I never realized that it was about Alzheimer's disease until they started talking about it. One line goes, "The books that you read, are in scattered piles, of paper shreds". They explained that one of the their relatives had Alzheimer's, and when this relative realized that she could no longer read, she started shredding her books. This really hit home with me, because on one of my visits to my Mom a while back, she had a little pile of shredded photographs in her bedroom. When I asked her what they were, she said that she had been sorting through old photos, and these were the ones that she no longer wanted. I explained that she could just throw them away, that she didn't have to shred them, and she didn't have an answer for why she was shredding them (keep in mind, she is way before the shredding generation). Anyway, it was really creepy to see arms, torsos, faces of some of my relatives, and I realized, maybe she doesn't know who these people are anymore, and it bothers her to have pictures of "strangers" around. Maybe. Anyway, I strongly urge everybody to (legally, of course) download this song (shameless Dixie Chicks plug), because it's really beautiful, even without the Alzheimer's connection. Here's some partial lyrics:
Every day that will pass you by
Every name that you won't recall
Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house .....
"Silent House" by the Dixie Chicks