Spectrums of Light and Life

In the last few days I have witnessed some new perspectives on life.

I have learned that the hourly break at the public swimming pool means so many different things, depending on your age. For those between age 6 and 17, it means you are starving and must consume as many snacks as fifteen minutes will allow. If you are under six, it means go find your super cool Aunt Kristi and have her tread water for fifteen minutes so you can go off the diving board. :) If you are a daycare member you need to spend this time reapplying your sunscreen. Lifeguards get to go in the shaded building. Some parents, that spend way too much time laying in the sun, get to swim without being splashed.



Tonight, I went with Eric to the nursing home. I do this a few times a month and take notes for him as he rounds on his patients. Let me tell you, like in Forest Gump, the minute you walk into a nursing home, it's like a box of chocolates, you NEVER know what you are gonna get.

It makes me laugh to say that. The first thing that came to mind is those chocolate laxatives!

Anyway, I love to visit with most of the residents. One particular patient that isn't... let's just say as sharp as she used to be, was in a very good mood tonight. She was talking up a storm about this and that, randomly making sense and not. She asked my husband how old he was. Now, think about being in your 80's or more and finding out your doctor is 37. It took her aback. Then she regrouped and said "you must have a family, a wife?". He said yes. He better have, I was standing right there. Then she said "are you happy"? Again, I'm standing RIGHT THERE! He said "yes". I said "I'm his wife". He moved on to her neighbor that was beckoning for him. I stood there for a second. She pointed to her photos on the wall. She said "the woman in red is my mother"...it was an OLD picture, obviously. She said she didn't have a picture of her husband up there because he drove her nuts her entire life. Continuing on, she said, "but oh, how I miss my mother, I can't wait to see her again". Now, I happen to know this woman's family. I know that her and her husband were married, til death did they part. I can't help but wonder even without all of her mental facilities, was she always closer to her mother than her spouse? Is this just a return to childlike behavior? Did she even know what she was saying to me? I won't ever know the answers. It sure does make one wonder what goes on in an aged brain. I'm sure that in many opinions this was the babbling of an old woman. I wonder just what her message was.