At a Distance

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

With a vacuous look in her eyes

She weakly smiled

And suddenly looked down

Her eyes were growing

Move and more empty

With every passing day

An occasional recognition

Was celebrated at heart

But no longer held much hope

Her decent into the unaware

Has been going on now

Close to seven years

and the family was in tears

after almost every visit

Such a strong and intelligent woman

Brought down to an empty vessel

Void of facts and memories

…

Maybe someday there will be

A cure for this loss so many face

Until then there will be

Heartbreak and loneliness

In many at older years

For now just hold tightly

To memories that you have

For some day they may be fleeting

And you’ll lose those

You hold most dear

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Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – vacuous

Stolen Memories

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

I went into the room

The room where he sat

Hoping to find him peaceful

Peaceful and having a good day

All I wanted was a spark

A spark of recognition

To show me he remembered

Remembered who I was

But today was like a nightmare

A nightmare of forgotten past

He said he didn’t know

Know anything about me

He said he wanted to go home

Home to see his parents

But they had already died

Died many years before

So I sit here as a stranger

A stranger to my father

And hope this awful disease

Disease that steals his memories

Will let him retain some pride

Pride in who he was once

I see in the mirror our reflections

Reflections of our life before dementia

And it makes me want to cry

Cry for all we both have lost

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Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – spark

life is so unkind

it is far from being fair
and i take umbrage at it
life can be so cruel
and knock a person down
it can take a happy man
and turn him inside out
steal his identity
and twist his thoughts around
years of life take their toll
and create a false reality
but worst of all is knowing
there is nothing i can do

 

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – umbrage

Fading

He was an avid reader
At least a book a week
Now I see him struggle
With what the words mean
He used to program computers
Now he can’t even turn one on
He can answer a land line phone
But his cell phone is a mystery
Slowly life is taking him away from me
One lost memory at a time
I wonder if tonight
He will even know my name

 

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – avid

Happy and Grateful – Day 214

Seven months are gone now and surprisingly I am still plugging along with this challenge to post about my happiness and gratitude every day this year.  August brings the state fair here in Iowa and lots of heat and humidity.  It is the time to see the back to school shopping start with kids dreading it and parents loving it.  As I continue my challenge I hope you will take a minute to reflect on your day too.  You can even share your happiness and gratitude here in the comments or on your own blog.  There is good in every day!

It was a nice day again today.  This cooler weather is sure a nice surprise in August.  With any luck maybe I can get to the park one of these cooler days just for a little bit.  Until then I have to settle for a bird song or two through the windows, some sunshine in the car and a slow walk between building and car.

Today was a bit of a sad day.  One of the people my dad has coffee with was showing signs of dementia today.  Trying more than once to drink coffee from a salt or pepper shaker.  I was reminded of my mother-in-law and her battle with that horrible disease.  Made me grateful that my Dad is relatively healthy for his age.

I had a small moment today that made me happy.  Really a pretty silly thing.  We recently upgraded our phones and I lost all the “work” I had done on a sim game I played.  I finally heard back from the company that makes it and got my account restored.  So I am back to playing my bakery again.   …like I said pretty silly but I was up to level 99 and hated to start over from scratch.

I should call it a night.  Be sure to look for your happiness and gratitude today.  (((HUGS))) to everyone!