[Magdalen] Life is all about getting up in the morning

[Judy Fleener]

That must be so hard, Alan. I am sorry.

On Wed, Sep 10, 2014 at 3:56 AM, Allan Carr <allanc25 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Out house is one story so there's not much chance of Camille falling when
> she wanders around. When i realize she's wandering and go for her, she
> usually says something about someone wanting her to do something or go
> somewhere or a like statement and i reassure her that it's someone in her
> dream and no one here. I then take her to bed which is in another room than
> mine because  she has fecal incontinence and, even with a pull up, can soil
> the bed.
>
> She goes to a day care center for Alzheimer's patients three days a week.
> The other two days she still gives an afternoon to the church thrift shop
> or goes to a women's spirituality group. They women in both are her old
> friends so I think they're as worth while for her as the Alzheimer's group.
> We have a caregiver eight hours a day, fortunately paid by our long term
> care insurance, who takes her there in the morning and brings her back in
> the afternoon.
>
> We've had a little toy poodle, Joey, for thirteen years. Now in September,
> monsoon breezes are coming up the grade from the beach cities so I often
> delay his walk until noon or so and there's still some breeze. After the
> walk I have a latte with the caregiver up to when it's near time to get
> Camille, so sometimes Joey goes into the facility with our caregiver, much
> to the delight of the patients inside.
>
> Today in passing, the caregiver mentioned that Camille doesn't recognize
> her if she walks in without Joey but does recognize her if she has Joey. I
> didn't know that and it saddened me.
>
> On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 7:59 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <ichthys89 at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> > this came across my 'e-desk' just now and after reading thought I would
> > share. It brought to mind all of our lives in various permutations and
> the
> > chances and cares of the world that we all are called to deal with.
> > peace
> > Lynn
> >
> >
> > Life is all about getting up in the morning  /  by Michael Leach    |
> > Sep. 9, 2014 Soul Seeing
> >
> > "Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." -- Meister Eckhart
> >
> > The first click is at 7:30 a.m. Someone is singing.
> >
> > If you wanna get to heaven
> > Get out of this world
> > You're the voyager
> > You're the voyager ...
> >
> > It's Groundhog Day.
> >
> > Every day is just the same but totally different.
> >
> > I reach over Vickie, hit the snooze button, pull the cover up to her
> neck,
> > cuddle up and stroke her hair. Before I know it, my mouth falls open and
> my
> > brain is numb again.
> >
> > Click.
> >
> > You're the voyager ...
> >
> > I stumble out of bed and turn off the radio. "Stay. I'll go first."
> >
> > I sit on the edge of the bed with my arms on my knees and my head down
> > like a boxer after a tough round.
> >
> > It started around 2 a.m. when the ceiling light in the hallway blinked
> on,
> > sensing that someone was wandering around like Lady Macbeth. A kiddie
> gate
> > near the stairs prevents Vickie from falling down, so I don't rush.
> "You're
> > sleepwalking, sweetie." I put my arm around her and lead her to the
> > bathroom, then tuck her back in. We spoon and I caress her face, lightly
> > over the eyebrow, circling the hollow near her temple, smoothing her
> hair.
> > She's asleep in less than a minute. It takes me longer. There'll be two
> > more voyages before the morning's first click. Alzheimer's is like that.
> >
> > But now I'm up. The rest of my day depends on how I begin it. I open the
> > blinds to let in the light. The sky is overcast. "Good morning,
> sunshine,"
> > I call over. "It's a beautiful day."
> >
> > "Mm hmm," she answers.
> >
> > I sit next to the night table that has an open copy of the new Jack
> > Reacher thriller and a Miracles magazine. This is a good time for most
> > people to meditate but I never meditate because I can't keep the
> chattering
> > monkey in my brain still for two seconds. So I just sit and watch my
> > thoughts pass by without judging them and then the thought comes that
> life
> > is all about getting up in the morning and meeting needs as they appear,
> > without fuss, moment by moment. Maybe that's what love is, too.
> >
> > I was going to write a book back in the 1970s about living in the present
> > moment but didn't because I only had about three good double-spaced pages
> > in me. Plus, if you think about it, the only real moment we can focus on
> is
> > the one that happens next. The present one is always in the past.
> >
> > So I sit by Vickie and sing to her in a whispery voice, "Good morning,
> > sunshine, the earth says hello ..."
> >
> > "G' morning, Sooshi," she says.
> >
> > "It's time to start our day." I pull down the cover as she pulls herself
> > up. We both sit on the side of the bed. "My feet," she says, "where are
> my
> > feet?"
> >
> > "Over here." I reach for her fluffy pink slippers and put them on her
> like
> > Cinderella. Her feet are still pretty at 68. Mine are disgusting, like a
> > dinosaur's.
> >
> > Next Vickie looks in the bathroom mirror and says, "My hair!" She looks
> > like an electrocuted chicken. I tell her, "It's OK. The aliens came last
> > night. They parked their ship in the backyard and abducted you. They took
> > samples of your hair because it's so beautiful they want to grow it on
> > their planet."
> >
> > This is a routine we go through every morning. It's always the same but
> > always different because each time we react to everything like it's
> > happening for the first time, which for Vickie it is. I heard the actress
> > Aubrey Plaza improvising with Jon Stewart the other night, and when he
> > complimented her, she said, "All of life is improv, isn't it?"
> >
> > We go through our familiar liturgy of hygiene and getting dressed, Vickie
> > first. It takes about as long as an early morning Mass by a priest and an
> > altar boy who want to get it right even if nobody's watching. We hug
> before
> > we go downstairs, and I say, "You done good, sweetie," and she says,
> "Thank
> > you," two words she has always remembered, and I remember Meister
> Eckhart's
> > saying, "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank
> you,
> > it will be enough."
> >
> > We go down to the kitchen where I slice bananas for our corn flakes, put
> a
> > straw in Vickie's chocolate Boost, and take a swig from a carton of OJ.
> > I've brought down my Miracles magazine to read while we eat.
> >
> > "Listen to this, sweetie. It's kids on what love means. Rebecca, age 8:
> > 'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her
> > toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even
> when
> > his hands got arthritis too.' "
> >
> > Vickie is pointing past me, through the sliding glass doors, onto the
> > patio. I know what she's looking at. Our Lady of the Garden, the little
> > sculpture of our Blessed Mother that sits in the garden Vickie tended for
> > decades before she could no longer.
> >
> > "Yes, she's beautiful. She's looking after your garden and after us."
> >
> > Vickie smiles. Nothing makes me smile more.
> >
> > I read the last entry to myself. Terri, age 4: "Love is what makes you
> > smile when you're tired."
> >
> > [Michael Leach shepherds Soul Seeing for NCR and books for Orbis Books.]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
> >
> > When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have
> not
> > a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave
> me."
> > attributed to Erma Bombeck
> >
> > Thomas Merton writes, "People may spend their whole lives climbing the
> > ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder
> is
> > leaning against the wrong wall."
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Allan Carr
>



-- 
Judy Fleener, ObJN
Western Michigan