Yesterday was another good one for Kate and me. She was up a little earlier than usual, and we spent almost two hours at Panera before having our customary lunch at Bluefish Grill. After lunch, I asked her if she would like to go directly home or stop by Barnes & Noble. I was pleasantly surprised when she said she wanted to go home. I say that because she hasn’t wanted to spend much time at home recently. It turned out that she was tired and wanted to rest a while.
After resting for almost two hours, she told me she was going outside to “pull leaves.” Again, I was surprised and very pleased. It has been weeks since she has worked outside. That is something that used to occupy most of her time during the day. More recently, the winter weather, our having the flu, and the fact that there are barely any remaining leaves on our shrubs has kept her inside. That hasn’t last long before she was ready to get out to Panera or Barnes & Noble. I had begun to wonder if, not when, she would pick up her yard work again. She was outside for a full hour before coming in. She was happy. As I have said before, working in the yard is her therapy.
The second surprise, this one for Kate, came next. She received a phone call from Meg Wright, a very close personal friend from Texas. She and I had exchanged emails a couple of days before to work out a good time for a call. When I mentioned to Kate that Meg was calling, she immediately recognized the name but asked, “Where do I know her from?” I told her they were old friends from Fort Worth and that she had been one of her bridesmaids in our wedding. She remembered that. I also conveyed to Meg that Kate would be weak on remembering any details of their past as she is with our children and grandchildren. I suggested that Meg might mention some of the old memories and that would help her remember.
As I expected, the phone call went very well. It wasn’t a long call, perhaps twenty minutes, but the impact was as great as if it had been an hour. By last night, I am sure she had forgotten all about the call, but it had been a moment of pleasure with a very dear friend from her past. Once again, she had had a very good day, and so had I.
