Something New

I went in the pool this afternoon and left Kate in our bedroom where she was working on her iPad. She told me she was going to take a nap. When I came in 40 minutes later, I didn’t see her in the bedroom and assumed she must have gone in her room for a nap, something that is not unusual.

After my shower, I went to her room to check on her. She wasn’t there. I went outside and didn’t see her. I came back in the house for another look. Still no sign of her. I went back outside. Coming back from the side of the house opposite from our driveway, I saw her on the other side of the driveway. When I got close, I could see that she was actually in the neighbor’s yard and was pulling leaves and branches off of a large shrub that is 7-8′ tall. She had removed all the leaves off of about a third of the shrub. I told her that was a shrub that belonged to the neighbors. She said she knew but that it needed trimming. She commented that now it looked better. When we got back from dinner, I called the neighbor who was very understanding as I expected she would be. We had a nice conversation. I told her I would try to see that it doesn’t happen again but that it could be hard to prevent unless I am outside with her all the time. Again, she was very understanding and said not to worry about it.

Another Great Day

I am glad to report that Kate had a great day yesterday. I did as well. The greatest pleasure of the day was seeing Kate enjoy herself so much. Here’s what happened.

Last week, we bumped into Marty Lang, a long-time friend whom we met soon after moving to Knoxville in 1971. He is a Methodist minister whose career has been outside a local church. He has been very active in social justice efforts as long as we have known him. His wife died about 2 years ago, and he has been seeing someone else recently. We talked about our getting together as couples. He followed that conversation up with an email inviting us to lunch.

Yesterday we had lunch with them. Kate was apprehensive about going. Although we had just seen Marty last week, I knew she could not remember him except to recognize his name. Neither of us had met his new friend. Having known Marty a long time and also aware that his friend had had a career in christian education, I felt confident that she would enjoy herself.

It turned out I was right. It was an especially good get together. When Marty met us in the restaurant, he was carrying a small potted plant with beautiful yellow flowers for Kate. When Anne joined us, we entered into the typical kind of “get-acquainted” conversation. Anne is very good at asking good questions of those she is with. She also is a good listener. Kate was quite comfortable with this kind of conversation because it involves the kinds of things that she can still remember – family, growing up, dating, etc.

We spent almost two hours with them. There was never a lull in the conversation. When we got in the car to go home, Kate was enthusiastic about our time with them. It was good to see her enjoy herself.

That wasn’t the only good thing about the day. About an hour after we got home, I took her for her monthly facial. Less than an hour after that we were at Casa Bella for Opera Thursday. As usual, we sat with the same two couples. While Kate does not talk a lot, she feels comfortable with them. Equally  important, the singers last night were especially good. It is a very intimate setting, and we were right in front of the singers. What a great way to finish what had already been a great day. I hope we will be able to continue having periodic days that this.