Loving Kindness...

It happened one more time... I went to the nursing home to sing with Papa and visit my mom yesterday. She was really chatty when I first got there. I gave her the spearmint candy she likes for a treat. I hugged and kissed her. Then I tore out the picture of a cute baby from the Parent's Magazine Andie gives to me for her to enjoy. Then I took out my crocheting. I got my chair really close to mom and she watched my hands work while she ate her candy. I looked up at her a lot and we said a few things back and forth. Then I asked her if she remembered crocheting. She said, "No." This is quite often her answer for everything. So I never take it as a real answer, just an opportunity to keep her talking for as long as we can. I told her that she taught me, Junie and Neffie how to do this. She continued to watch my hands work. Then she leaned her head over toward mine. She does this a lot now. She will just lean over and I'll lean my head over and we'll rest our heads against each other. I sometimes think I'm in the movie "Rainman" when this happens. We'll just sit there until she is ready to move her head. Mimi finally rolled her head and looked me in the eye. Then we had one of those treasured moments when she said, "I love you". I'm not sure how many of those we have left and each time it happens again I just love it. It made me realize how important that little phrase is in life. I try to say it a lot to my grandmonsters. There are enough people in life that will try and tear our kids down. We need to be their cheerleaders (Alice Hemming used to say that). I'm going to be sure I tell people more often the positive feelings I have for them. There will be enough people willing to correct, shout at, condemn, etc. that, maybe, if I make a concerted effort to send out the positive feelings I have for others more it might make my portion of the world a little more pleasant. There you have it...even an Alzheimer's patient can teach us when we are still and listen.