Monday 3 January 2011


Life can be so cruel...



We had a wonderful family celebration yesterday - my Mum turned 80 and had a party to mark the occasion. Not only were there lots of family there but Mum had also asked many friends from many different areas of her life.

Nothing remarkable about that!

As folk started to arrive we all took turns to meet them and I ended up greeting a couple whose connections with my Mum go back to when they were teenagers. The place was quite busy and someone nudged into us causing red wine to be spilt onto the husband's jacket sleeve, so he went off to wash it immediately.

I then spent about 10 minutes and more with the wife. I recall her from my own childhood and youth, she was fun and feisty, vibrant and a bit of a "hippy chick" - even though she wasn't a child of the 60's.

In those 10 minutes we had the same conversation at least three times... She has dementia...

However, there was a blessing in our time together because, despite her short term memory being non-existent, she recalled and regaled me with snippets of tales about when my parents met and how it was so obvious that they were meant for one another...

I'd never heard that before... and though I grieved for her lost present, I gave thanks for her recaptured past...

No comments:

Post a Comment