This and That

Dad loves to talk about his relatives, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc. He will pull out an old picture and and give a complete geneology for the person plus a complete list of interesting anecdotes about them. So, I was really excited the other day when his cousin called. I chatted with her for a while and then asked him if he would like to talk with her. Who? I don't know that person. But he talked and then he remembered, and then he forgot. The next morning I asked him what his cousin had to say. Who? They called here? Show him a picture of her and he will tell the whole story, but he doesn't know she called. If it happens today it is generally gone tomorrow. Then again his mind strangely latches onto the most obscure things and they cling like grass stains.

For years he would visit his sister and my cousins and they always played pinochle. Some people tell of their great achievements in war, or business or sports, but my cousins tell of their great achievements at the pinochle table. My dad played with them for years whenever he went to visit. One of my cousin's greatest exploits came in a game against Dad. Now we take Dad to the senior center to get him some outside activities. They play pinochle there. He insists that he has never played that game before and gets adamantly angry if I tell him that he played it for years at his sister's house. One would think that an activity engaged in repeatedly and often over a period of 25 years would be one of those things that would stick, but it doesn't.

That is rather the frustrating thing about the whole disease. We never know what he might or might not remember. Some important and unimportant things seem right at his finger tips while other things, important or unimportant, recent or old, seldom done or often done, are gone like the mist in the sun. It is always just enough to keep us off balance when planning for him or talking with him.