AUSTIN, TX — Holding back tears of both love and mild concern, local man Greg Wilkins, 61, reported Thursday that he was “profoundly touched” after his wife, Elaine, told him that if she ever developed Alzheimer’s disease, she’d prefer to pass on rather than become a burden to him.

“She looked me straight in the eyes, held my hand, and said she’d never want to be a weight on my shoulders if her mind started slipping,” said Wilkins. “I held her hands within mine, told her that it was the seventh time she had said that today.”

Wilkins noted that it was the exact same phrasing she had used after breakfast, before lunch, in the checkout line at Target, while feeding the cat, and twice in the car ride home. “It was such a beautiful, selfless sentiment. Again and again.”

Wilkins says the repeated declarations were especially moving given that Elaine seemed genuinely shocked each time he replied, “You’ve said that already.”

“She’s always been so considerate, even when accidentally telling me the same emotionally devastating thing every 90 minutes,” said Wilkins. “She even said she’d write it down somewhere so she wouldn’t forget… which, now that I think about it, was also something she’s said a few times today.”

At press time, Wilkins was quietly Googling “early signs of dementia” while Elaine softly repeated, “I just wouldn’t want to be a burden,” from the other room, where she was currently making a fifth cup of tea she’d already forgotten about.