Dear Reader:

The miraculous human body God created for each of us never ceases to amaze and astound me.

Never was this more apparent than in time spent with mother at the Presbyterian Village. Those days were sometimes poignant, sometimes funny, and sometimes downright heart-wrenching.

It was like looking at life through a kaleidoscope. You never knew from day-to-day what colors and patterns would emerge from your time together.

Dementia turns a loved one’s life into a lilliputian replica of a shadow of who… he/she once was… It wasn’t until after mother’s passing that I came to realize just how precious that time spent together was. It was like watching a butterfly emerge from the cocoon in reverse order.

Every day mother would shed more pieces of her outer “shell” as she seemed to shrink right in front of me physically. Yet…with each loss from the physical world her inner light began to shine brighter.

Her eyes lit up when she saw me…not always remembering my name but knowing that I was the one she was waiting for…

I always prayed that the weather would permit us to go outside because mother loved feeling special by being able to leave her restricted space, tucked away in the corner in a wheelchair, and instead…enjoy the beauty and freedom of  watching the ducks on the pond.

I would update her about what was going on in the family and on good days we would stop and go through her memory book…I would try to tell a story about each person in it.

Sunday evenings I would usually eat supper with mother in a room at the end of the hall that had tables in it for meals…it was my favorite time to go because a volunteer piano player would usually get the supper crowd singing old songs and melodies.

Sometimes I would notice mother’s index finger tapping the edge of the table to an old familiar tune.

So when I came across this poignant story (Guidepost) of a bridge discovered between a daughter and her elderly grandmother (with dyslexia)… many personal memories came flooding back to me.

Source: Mysterious Ways: (Guidepost: “One Last Song“)

My husband Ron hit the cheerful opening notes on the piano, and I started to sing—an original song we were performing for the 35 nursing home residents and staff gathered in the activities room. A gray-haired woman in a wheelchair stared past us, her eyes glassy and distracted. Grandma, can’t you see it’s me up here? I thought.

I’d hoped our concert would lift everyone’s spirits—mine included. Alzheimer’s had slowly erased the outgoing, energetic woman I’d known and loved. She didn’t recognize me anymore as Grandma’s little “B,” short for “bookworm,” the nickname she’d given me due to my love of reading. When I was a child, I used to curl up in her lap as she rocked back and forth in her wooden rocker and read me stories.

My favorite one had been about a young boy, determined to save his friend, Nellie, who was dying from a serious illness. After learning Nellie wouldn’t survive past the summer, the boy hatched an imaginative plan—to tie the leaves to the branches of every tree with tiny pieces of string, so that fall would never come. While he worked, he sang a song, which Grandma had reproduced in a soft, hopeful hum. In this way, she’d sparked my lifelong love of music.

( The Lyrics:)

I’M TYING THE LEAVES (SO THEY WON’T COME DOWN) (E.S.S. Huntingdon / J. Fred Helf) Byron Harlan – 1907 Also recorded by: Grandpa Jones

Playmates were they, girl and lad. She’s home today, lad feels sad. Doctor, he called, whispered low: “When the first autumn leaves fall, then she must go.”

Lad, with a tear, climbs a tree. “I’ll keep her here.” murmurs he. Big man in blue sternly cries: “What are you doing there?” Lad replies:

CHORUS “I’m tying the leaves so they won’t come down, So the wind won’t blow them away, For the best little girl in the whole wide world, Is lying so ill today. Her young life must go when the first leaves fall. I’m fixing them tight so they’ll stay. I’m tying the leaves so they won’t come down, So Nellie won’t go away.”

Sad mother grieves, day by day, Watching the leaves, hears boy say:”You mustn’t cry, for, you see, I’ve tied all the leaves fast up on the tree.”

Doctor brings joy one sad day. Mother tells boy: “Nell will stay.” Lad at girl’s side, cries with glee: “That’s what I said one day in the tree.”

……………………….

(Story Continued)

Now not even my singing could get through to her. Grandma didn’t so much as nod to the melody. After Ron and I sang our last number, I walked over to her. “Did you like that?” I asked. Her face stayed blank. Not a flicker of recognition. What else could I say?

Suddenly, the words came to me, lyrics to a song I hadn’t heard in over 40 years. I sang them in a gentle falsetto, “I’m tying the leaves so they won’t come down…”

Grandma flashed a smile. “So Nellie won’t go away!” she sang, finishing the lyric from the children’s story. I was too stunned to say another word. She looked into my eyes and studied my face.

“Why, it’s you—my little B!”

It was the last time my grandmother and I shared such a moment. Thanks to a song I hadn’t planned to sing.

……………………….

So until tomorrow…Help us all Father learn to shed all the unnecessary accessories in our lives and follow Your light singing… “This Little Light of Mine…I’m going to make it Shine.”

* This little light of mine – YouTube

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Our “Holy City” has had its faith shaken in the past several hours but our city’s beautiful land of steeples will rise above this senseless tragedy. Let us keep everyone in our hearts and prayers as more  information becomes more available.

Mollie passed on this photo of Charleston this morning…. from Brittney Gibbs …very touching.

Betsy found out the cause of her recent health problems…hyper parathyroidism which is rather unusual…but the biopsy showed no cancer which is such a relief. She is being referred to the Norman Parathyroid Center in Tampa for treatment and surgery.

Thank you for your support of Betsy ….just knowing and have a plan of recovery is hugh, as we all know…once again your prayers came through for a much deserving young lady!

*Look at Sis’s day lilies/photos she shared will us/Sis said it was in the mid to high eighties there in the mountains…I told her it sounded like Fall to us!…Day lilies always make us shine!

* Yesterday was Lachlan’s 3rd month old birthday (17th) and today is Rutledge’s “official” 2nd birthday (18th)….Happy Birthday Boys! See you Saturday! I’m bringing a cool surcie Rutledge!

This is one of my favorite sayings (thanks Linda…got the sign at Simple to Sublime with a special gift card!)…and the little angel/fairy was one Anne gave me for the garden…but thought I would give this fairy a reprieve until (if ever) this heat wave diminishes.