The following chapters detail a few little stories of some of my experiences while visiting Memory Care Centers with my Service Dog, a cross-bred Lab Retriever/Whippet.
Chapter 1
You Are My Sunshine: Broken Hearts Introduce Themselves & We Weep Together
Immaculately clothed, her makeup is in place with stunning jewelry. She sits in the morning light in her wheelchair and greets us by name. “Good morning, Fawn and Ti Amo!” (Ti Amo is my Service Dog who looks much like a red Pit Bull yet is a Whippet crossed with a Labrador Retriever, according to his DNA.)
We ask if we can visit and she smiles nodding affirmatively. Ti Amo places his head in her lap as I lower to the floor on my knees, and tell her how beautiful she looks. Smiling as I look into her eyes, I place my right hand on her left forearm and she begins to cry diamonds of enlarged tears.
I smile and ask if she is alright?
She answers that her children do not call, do not write, nor do they visit. (They may very well do all the above yet she has forgotten.) At this point, I decide to divert her with a bit of music. I begin to sing “You Are My Sunshine”. She tries to sing with me yet seems to have difficulty getting her breath.
Then I find I am crying with her, remembering my own wee babes. Rather than dwell on this, I ask if the song is hurting her.
She tells me, it is the song she sang to her children as they lay cradled in her arms.
The scene becomes both of us weeping. My Service Dog, Ti Amo, keeps his head on her lap as we sing this old song, remembering.
I remember my pain, her pain, the pain of the world.
Then, I remember something! And I tell her.
“We are fortunate to have had these babies at all. Remember this. Remember them!” She concurs and smiles through her tears ~ her beautiful shining sparkling tears of grace.
The next week’s visit takes place without her presence. She is gone. I am not told where, how, or why…to protect her privacy.
I pray for her.
Chapter 2
Mother-Son Lullaby
A mother and her son are sitting watching nature out the front window of the Care Center. Mother is in a wheelchair. Her middle-aged son is sitting on the couch. They discuss the world.
Then, after having time with Ti Amo and me, they begin to sing. It is glorious and involves perfect harmonies!
My heart soars and I stand to dance to their singing melodies. We laugh. Ti Amo gets excited and wants to jump on someone, anyone! So, I take his paws in my hands and we dance.
We all get the giggles and the moment is cast in the light of laughter.
Chapter 3
A Staff of Kindness
“Let’s Put Her Name on the List for Live Concerts whenever they are scheduled!” says the staffer on duty that day.
Later that day, COVID-19 Pandemic hits the world. We no longer can come to the Memory Centers for music and visiting.
We wait for the world to heal itself.
Chapter 4
“Stay Away From Me! I Hate Music & Animals!”
Always concur. Never disagree or argue. After screaming at us to stay away, I move further away in the Memory Center hallway and begin to sing with my Service Dog, Ti Amo (Italian for, “You, I deeply love!”)
Soon, upon hearing me sing, she begins to smile and sing along with me, and I am able to join her in the valley of the third trimester of her life.
She is swaying in her wheelchair while grinning and petting Ti Amo (who does not lick or drool).
We are content for this moment in time.
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