A Golden Day

My mom and I stopped in to see Patty yesterday and found her sitting outside in the sunshine with her daughter and a friend. She knew us! For the very first time since the accident, she definitely knew us. She saw us pulling in and said “There’s Aunt Helen.” Earlier she had been asking Jen about Uncle John—my dad—and Jen had told her that he’d passed away. She didn’t remember sitting vigil at his bedside with us the night before he’d passed or being at the funeral. And when Mom sat down next to her, she asked my mom “What happened to Uncle John? Was it his heart?” My mom almost wept. Not because of Dad, but because this was “our Patty” instead of the sad, damaged version we’d been visiting up until now.

Her friend asked her where we (Mom and I) lived and she replied, “Next to us. Why?” As though it were a silly question.

She’s had a hair cut and looks much more like her old self, too. She still has a long way to go and there will probably be ups and downs, but yesterday was a good day. Yesterday was golden.