We were there when it began though no one tell you the exact time or date upon which it started.
There is material that provides some tools that can be used to provide a rough time frame for the beginning and middle but then things get weird.
Stories are supposed to have a beginning, middle and end but this one is missing a clearly defined conclusion.
There has been some debate about that but every time the arbiters of truth try to make a determination they fail to do so.
You can climb the mountaintops and ask the Johnnys, Daniels, Junes and Annes but they probably won’t give you a uniform answer, or at least not today.
Some suggest they could have 18 years ago and some say they could have 11 or even 7 years ago but that is still under debate.
Maybe there will never be consensus and maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe these stories I write for you are best left open to interpretation in some fashion.
So when some ask how long will you make me wait before we ascend the mountaintops again and enter the castle it is easier to not have something concrete.
That allows for a certain kind of flexibility.
I wrote part of a story on an airplane somewhere between Texas and Atlanta.
I wrote down I Can Still Reach You and intended for it to be some sort of action piece but a nosy seatmate made me change it.
They saw those five words and asked if I was writing a former lover or someone who was special to me.
I thought their description sounded strange but I was more irritated by their intrusion and chose to make up a tale on the spot. I excel at that, especially in a situation where the person has no ability to question the veracity of my tale.
So I came up with a simple story of two people who lived in two different cities and wove in some Gordon Lightfoot and said something about being a greeting card writer.
They asked me if I thought I had a shot and I said absolutely because she loved my writing and that provided a different sort of communication.
“There is no interruption in text. If you do it right no one questions whether you were snarky, sarcastic or unnecessarily angry. They can do more than listen, they can hear you.”
They tried to ask me a series of follow up questions but two cups of coffee before the flight got in the way of my interest in continuing the tale.
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I have been fascinated by this story about Tony Bennett and the impact of music on his Alzheimers.
It is not the first time I have heard tales like this. I know of several others, it is fascinating to me.
It has to be terribly hard for the loved ones of those with dementia to see them start to slip away. Reminds me of a song Glen Campbell wrote as we started down that path called I Am Not Going To Miss You.
It is heartbreaking.
I once worked with a guy whose wife got early onset Alzheimers, they were in their fifties.
I remember him talking about how her physical health was quite good and the unspoken comments about what that could mean.
That intersects with a conversation I had with my maternal grandfather and a time he complained that he was no longer physically capable of carrying my grandmother around.
He didn’t have a grand desire to give her a piggyback ride and I don’t think she had any interest in getting one.
He worried about being able to help her if she fell.
I can appreciate that. I am very conscious of physical changes in ability and can’t imagine a time when I won’t be able to do certain things. It is unthinkable but I really don’t worry about it.
Not going to buy that kind of trouble when there is no need.
But I have thought about what would happen if I began to suffer from sort of dementia. What would happen if I started to lose it and would I be aware it was happening.
That awareness would make me crazy, the feeling that I was slipping away. It is probably tied into why I play various brain games and engage in activities that require active thought.
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Someone found a guest post I wrote elsewhere and has come to visit. I had forgotten about it but it is clear I have been following a certain theme for some time now.
Been writing stories all over. Some are for you and some are for me.
Some are for others and if they asked I might even write more…maybe.
It depends on several things…
It is interesting reading my old quote about writing helping us to figure out who we are and who we could be.
Time and experience has impacted some of that for me and my approach is different than it once was. I have let go of some dreams and taken on others.
And in other cases I haven’t let go of everything but I have adjusted expectations and adopted a “let’s see what happens and go from there attitude.”
So many things impact our choices and decisions but we either find the courage to be the captain of our destiny or allow the storm to blow us wherever it wants.
Might not have complete control of everything, but damn if we don’t have plenty of influence.
