So yesterday, along the lines of still alice and making the present memorable, we went for three walks. It was her fault, really, but it made her soooo happy to see buddy standing there, wagging his tail, and it opened up the opportunity for long walks together as i teased her about making me come- it was delightful. The dog didn't suffer, exercise is good fo both of us, it was just great.
Then, that evening, before the third walk, she started playing baseball with the triplets next door. See, in her former life, she and my daddy coached little league. It was a huge part of their lives for about twelve years- when he died unexpectedly the little league association retired the team. They were good at it, and for years mom continued to attend the games "her kids" played in, until they all began to graduate and did not play locally so much anymore. To watch her, then, pitching (with surprising accuracy) to a little league child again, it did us both so much good. She is still my mom, the person she was. She is not walking dementia. She is who she always was; it's just a little bit harder for that woman to reach out and connect with the world, and for the world to connect to her.
Part-way through the walk, we noticed that some of the younger kids we had just been playing with had had their kickball game taken over by the town's teenage "miscreants". These were kids who had been yelling out to mom all day, the kids she had in in-school suspension. i wasn't sure if they were making fun of her, or would treat her well, various kids had done both in the past. She's come down the stairs whispering about our first walk of today just now, so i'll have to finish this story later. :OD.
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