Alzhiemers

Today she wakes up and touches life again... you never know how it will be. Will she wake up and know her place? Know that the Lord has chosen for her to stay here on this earth one more day? How hard it must be to not remember your family - the family that you do remember and that you want to find.. well, they are all dead......
they have been gone for many years.

I love to hear her stories. Okay, I admit they don't line up with the facts that followed her here. The facts that are written, they tell us how much she weighs, her birth date, how many children that she has and that her husband has been deceased for years.
But, those aren't the stories she tells me. One day I came into the area, I asked her "well my friend how are you doing to day?"
She gave me the biggest smile you ever did see and said...
"how does any young lady feel on her wedding day?"
Her face beamed of a love that she was so obviously feeling. Was she remembering the day she got married, or was she dreaming of the way she wanted to feel again? I didn't want to take her from where ever she was... I squeezed her hand and hugged her.
At this moment I didn't really care what any of the specialists say - I was happy for her. I took it in and made a conscious effort that if something like this ever happens in my family, I will not be sad. I will accept the day and take it into my heart realizing that everything changes.
I will accept the fact that mother doesn't know me, that I don't know my children, and I will be happy that my smile can be given to someone. I will be happy that someone's touch as they give care will remind me of things that happened in my life.

...today she is crying, sitting in her wheel-chair, and holding the hand of the man sitting next to her. He looks bewildered but doesn't move as her warm tears wash over his hand. I go over to try to comfort her and put my arm around her shoulders gently trying to release her hand from his.
She says... "I love him so much".
At this moment I didn't really care what the house rules were. She shouldn't be crying over some man she doesn't know and "bothering" him. He has his rights you know. I gently tell him that I will work on it and he smiles looking like a puppy just being taken from it's mother.
"It is time, we need to go, we will go to your room and get some rest so you feel better, I think he knows how very much you love him"
"Will you take care of him, I love him so"
"Yes, I will, I promise he will be taken care of while you go get some much needed rest"
"Okay then, I think that will help if I lay down"
and so we go to her 1/2 room, with the twin size bed and the TV that has never been turned on. She gets the help she needs to lay down and I give her a kleenex to wipe the tears.
And I think to myself why does this happen? What is it that is in God's plan here in this place?
And I realize maybe it is all for me
maybe it is for all of us
to know that life here isn't always what we expect
there are disappointments,
failures,
fear,
lonesomeness,
trials.
But through all of it there is glimpses of that feeling of love.
The love that comes from our Lord.
That hope that when we get to Heaven we will understand.
And until then...
I will make a conscious effort to show His love to anyone needing a touch.
I will continue to try to understand...
how our mind works - when others think it isn't.
And I hope I will always remember how she felt on her wedding day as a new bride, even when the tears that flow for her love, are for a man she doesn't know.