After amnesia, falling in love all over again

Love me two times
The old Jeff hated green peppers and turnips. The new Jeff loves them. His likes now are based largely on food he ate in the hospital. He used to build with Legos, but now isn’t quite sure what to do with them.

He still smokes though, just as much as he did before. Penny jokes that she wishes she could have told him he never smoked.

He likes the song “Roxanne,” new to him though it came out in 1978. Pop culture is almost overwhelming and, at times, confusing. “William Shatner is Captain Kirk,” Penny tells Jeff.

Thoughts swim around constantly in his head, with no permanent home.

Experts say there are three types of memory: emotional, motor and intellectual, which includes long-term memory. Jeff’s motor memory, the ability to know things automatically, such as a burner being hot, was intact.

But not much is known about this rare form of amnesia. It is usually triggered by a stressful or traumatic event. Jeff believes that his friend’s cancer in combination with his sensitivity to the anniversary of 9/11 most likely caused it. There is no way of knowing when, or if, he will get his memory back.

Penny, fun-loving and constantly smiling, has been his teacher and comfort, always reminding him of who he was and how much she cares. She took time off work to be with him.

Weeks after his return, Penny was walking through their house when Jeff blurted out: “You know what? I love you.”

She started crying.

He still was getting to know Penny, but his heart knew.

“There’s a reason we’re together. It’s bigger than us,” Penny said. “Even though he doesn’t know me.”

A day to remember
On Dec. 31, 2006, a few friends and family gathered at the home of Penny’s brother as the sun beamed in through the windows.

Inside, the couple, smiling and holding hands, recited their vows.

“You are my friend, my lover, my hope and my happiness ... ,” Jeff told his bride. “You never gave up on me when others might have. We were meant to be together forever.”

Then it was Penny’s turn.

“Jeff, I fell in love with you not once, but twice. Everyone wishes for a miracle in their lives and you are my miracle. I love the way we both can finish each other’s sentences. I love that we can play like kids. I love how we hold hands and walk together in a comfortable silence. ... But most of all, I love your unconditional love for me.”

Their lives are not untroubled. Jeff is working on regaining memories that may never come; he still mourns the loss of who he was, and he is afraid, as is Penny, that he will disappear again. He worries that he’ll go out for a cigarette and not return.

But for now they are newlyweds — laughing at the same jokes, settling into a comfortable routine. And every Dec. 31, as the world celebrates the new year, they will celebrate their anniversary and the chance they were given to fall in love all over again.

They picked that day, they say, so they would never forget.

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