A River of Stones
January 3rd 2011

We come home from church and there is a confused and urgent message on the answering machine.

'Please come and see me'

It is my birthday and there is family here and there and more visits expected during the afternoon and evening.  I call back, - 'I cannot come now, but I will come in the morning'

And so this morning, before coffee time, I get out the car and we run to town, the car and I.

My friend meets me at the door of the assisted living facility she has just moved into.  We go to her new and lovely suite, - she has her best cups sitting on the counter and the kettle boiling.  We have tea and a wonderful conversation, with little of the trouble she has with articulation since having a small stroke.

At the other end of this facility is the 'locked' part, where my dearest and most loving friend now lives.  Six years ago she organized our 60th anniversary party!

She has not lost her kind and loving disposition, but all her other abilities have vanished.  We can still talk about old times, as long as we can interpret lost words and I listen carefully and identify who she is talking about.

How cruel dementia is, and how grateful I was to find this morning's visit such a pleasure, and such an easy answer to yesterday's confusion and despair, - only a smile of friendship, a listening ear and a connection with old times, to bring confidence back again....

Small Stone #3

I press the door to where dementia lurks.
Life bestows a sweet surprise.