Dementia

 

The bells rang twice, letting Jules know time was almost up. She had gotten up late and was running behind schedule. She taught classes at the local college. She had been employed there for five years and had never received a warning for anything.

Last night was different though. Her father had been admitted to a nursing home in the next town over. Jules had spent too long of time there. It ripped her heart apart seeing him laying in that bed.

Nurses and aides came and went, checking on his vitals and making sure he was going to be comfortable for the night. This was his first night. Jules wasn’t sure if he knew where he was.

He had Dementia and sometimes seemed to float in and out of reality. As she stood there watching the movement in the room, she couldn’t help but wonder what mom would be saying about all this.

Mom had been her best friend, but cancer took her away last year and dad’s  slow moving dementia sped up. He missed his wife of over 50 years and didn’t want to live much anymore. Jules and her siblings decided that dad would get better care if he was moved into a facility with 24 hour care.

She stayed as long as she could afford and kissed her dad on the cheek telling him she would return soon. His eyes told her that he recognized her, but he didn’t understand why he was laying in this strange bed.

When Jules laid down for the night, her mind wouldn’t stay off her dad. This in turn made her sleep in late and as she entered her classroom door, the final buzzer sounded. She took a deep breath, and placed a big smile on her face as she said good morning to her students.

The class she taught was art. She hadn’t done too much on preparing for today’s lesson, so she did an impromptu. She asked the students to think of a time in their lives when a change that wasn’t wanted had happened. She asked them to draw out their feelings on their paper and hand them in to her when finished. If they finished early, they could go ahead and leave early.

She half-expected the students to hurry through in order to leave, but most of them stayed around three-fourths of the class. As she looked out over faces, she could tell some were serious about what they were drawing. One by one, they each turned their project in and as the room became quiet, she looked through them. One stood out to her, and she wondered if this student had somehow read her mind.

There was a separate piece of paper attached to her drawing. She explained how her favorite person in the whole wide world had been sick. She wrote about visiting her grandma and how grandma didn’t know who she was anymore.

Jules looked at the drawing and her heart sped up a little and a tear was shed, as she connected to the art work.

 

 

Laughter

 

Laughter

 

 

What is it about laughter?

A feeling, a smile, warmth?

There is nothing like it

To warm the heart

Bringing people together

Warming the souls

Of those we are among.

Written by,

Terry Shepherd

02/25/2014

The Darkest, Almost Black Eyes

When it came right down to it, she realized there was nothing she could do but accept things as they were, or die of sadness. She was thirty-five, and had never been married. She wanted nothing more than to get married, have a family and live to be happy at an old age.

She had a good career. She was a reporter in the local newspaper. She did many stories in the community. She had met some of the most prominent people, best looking men, cutest kids, but she never laid eyes on that special man.

She would walk into her front door each evening after work. Her pets; one dog and a cat, welcomed her. She would start the water in the tub, while chatting to her best friends. The pets sat at each corner of the tub, watching and waiting for her to get out and go to her favorite chair, where they would climb up and let her pet them.

After her bath and dressed in her nightgown, she poured herself a cup of coffee, turned the news on and sat in her recliner. Her two best friends found comfortable positions and they all watched the news together.

Her stomach began to growl, so she proceeded to the kitchen. She made herself a salad and grilled cheese. It didn’t take much to put a dinner together for one. She sat at the table and ate. She pondered back on her day, making mental notes of what she needed to do for tomorrows work.

Suddenly a tear fell, then another, and she softly sobbed into her salad, as she wished the loneliness away. She knew she could survive without that special person in her life; but she couldn’t remove the emptiness her soul felt.

She sat there for a while, arguing with herself about getting over this. She had to accept what was, and quit wishing. If it was meant to be, it would happen. If it wasn’t. let it be. She went back to her recliner, with her pets following.

She flipped the channels to see if she could find an interesting story on other news casts. She didn’t see anything that stood out to her. She decided to just relax and find a station where maybe she could laugh about nothing.

She turned to one of the new stations that had recently been added to her programming. There she heard the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. She was staring into the darkest, almost black eyes, covered in thick lashes. It was a weather man and when he started talking about their local weather for the next morning’s commute, she gasped as she realized he was less than an hour away.

She sat soaking in every word, every look, while he spoke. She knew in her heart, that this was the one. She laughed out loud at how silly that sounded as she didn’t even know him, other than  his name.

She got up and went into her office and did some outlines for the next day. She didn’t have anything else she had to do or really wanted to do. Her mind would go back and forth to that beautiful voice.

She let the dog out for the last time that evening, and crawling into bed, she said a prayer once again, that God show her the right mate for. The next morning, she did her usual routine and headed to work.

She walked into her office and looked at the messages waiting for her. She glanced at her watch. She had an hour before her first appointment. An interview, oh how she hated doing interviews. She asking all the same questions, they, giving the old-routine answers.

The office was in need of another reporter, but there were others who could do the interviews, so why her? She cleaned her desk and watered her plants. She went to the bathroom and checked her make-up and hair. It was time for her appointment. She went back to her office.

Upon entering, the secretary said, ” I let him in. I knew you would be back in a second. He is here for the interview for reporter. Here are his credentials. He is experienced, but in the weather department. He says he needs a change”.

Walking to her desk and reaching a hand out to shake the hand and say good morning, she looked straight into the eyes of the darkest, almost black eyes, with thick lashes she had ever seen.