“Do you think you can make a booklet for me?” Dad asked me, eagerly. “That should be very easy, ” I replied, thinking back to the booklets created for third graders. He quickly provided me with his binder filled with a variety of poems. The topics were rather depressing, though. Third graders usually write about animals.
“How quickly can you get it done?” was his next question. I showed him a quick way to take a picture of his typed copies and then transfer it to my Google files. He smiled, excitedly. ” That will be great!” he enthusiastically answered.
As I thought back to the time after my mother’s death, I marvel at my father’s health. He is writing poems and printing them. He isn’t crying quite as much. The nurses commented that he spent the entire day outside on Friday. Wow!
I continued thinking about poetry and how my father was diagnosed with dementia. It really is quite something that he is able to write poems. Elementary students usually grimace when faced with a task of creating a poem. My father seems to enjoy it. I decided to research poetry and dementia a little more. I discovered a website: https://www.nextavenue.org/turning-memories-poetry-dementia-care/ where a person works with dementia patients to create poetry. I think my next goal will be helping him create different types of poetry when I see my father again.
For now, I will work on creating his book and thinking about the joy it will bring.
A Journey Worth Remembering 