What kind of love does it take to allow watch your husband fall in love with another woman and be happy for him?

Apparently that's what's happened with Sandra and John O'Connor. A few years ago, she retired from the Supreme Court so that she could tend to him, as he slipped into the dementia that comes with Alzheimers disease. In Jeffrey Toobin's recent tome about the Supreme Court, The Nine, the first female on the Court seems very aware of her duties, both towards history and her family.

But beyond the sense of responsibility that apparently is just part of O'Connors character is her love for her husband-a love so profound that she can take it in stride when John, now a patient in a nursing home, acquires a girlfriend.

I imagine that you go through so many stages of grief as you gradually lose someone to that awful illness that eventually you surrender almost everything but your memories. But when your husband or wife is still alive-and shows romantic feelings for someone else-what does it bring out in you?

I don't know. I haven't been in those shoes. But I deeply admire the woman who can be this open in what has been such a difficult time for her and for her kids. Thank you for your grace, and for your humility.