Future is a fickle gal.

Christmas at the beach.

The future is a fickle gal. These pictures are proof of it. Of course they are of times we wanted to remember, to be put away, to gather dust, in a box, to be forgotten and surprised when found. To remember how precious those days were, and how they can bring a tear or a chuckle and a smile as we look at them. 

I can remember sitting with my grandma, as she would get out the family photo album. Of when my mom was a child, and how she would gentle turn the pages, and with a smile, a gasp, and tell of this uncle, or aunt, or whoever was on the page. Telling us the history of each picture. That is what I'm doing with you, telling you our history, our story, and now my story. 

It saddens me, when I see Sweetie as bright, as active as she was just a short period of time ago. She is but an empty vessel of herself. This, today, is what I have, and I've volunteered to be the caretake of this precious vessel. 

Sweetie still knows when I'm talking to her, and, bless her heart, she tries her best to answer. I know that she is still in there, some where, amongst the clamor of forgotten memories and the noise of Dementia.

We had a good day yesterday. I let her sleep in, and waited for her to come down when she was ready. I did go and check on her, just to make sure she was OK and she was. She has gone from knowing me for a short time first thing in the morning, to being stand offish. I have to move very slowly, and speak softly, reminding her who I am, and what we are doing.

When I change her pullups the first thing she has to get over the idea of me taking her clothes off and putting new ones on. This is the time, I can give her a cleaning. Using flushable wet wipes, I clean both front and backside of her bottom. That way, I know she starts the day "Clean and Fresh." 

This is my honorable duty and joy of being Sweetie's everything. It may not have seem that way at the start. It was a natural progression, for I was guided by my Driver. Those days with Him, changed me. Like water over a stone, smoothing and polishing it, Driver's words have done that to me. He comforts in bad traffic days, and we sing on long straight stretches' of smooth pavement. As we travel the Road to Dementia Town, Keeping our Shiny Side up. C'ya, Luv ya, and God Bless.