“Just a Couple of Old People Holding Hands” A Memoir of a Marriage in Alzheimer’s World
Forecast for Winter
By Carl Smith (2009)
You know you are heading into the wintertime of life
When you don’t pivot when you turn
But take short, mincing steps
Like the second hand of your watch.
Winter is coming when colds hang on longer than they used to,
And when you read the obituaries before the comics
You’re nearing the end when you think you’re walking briskly
But a slip of a girl ambles past you texting on her iPhone.You are into the final season
When you take in hand your pile of stuff and toss old mementos into the trash
And discover shedding stuff is a relief, not a pain.The winter of life is a time of testing.
It shows whether our minds as well as our bones are getting brittle
Winter tells us whether we are capable of finding new friends,
Whether these old hands can bend to new skills
And whether these weakened eyes can take in new sights.Winter may also be a time of reversals:
When we find that silence can be soothing, uplifting and beautiful
When darkness is cherished because it is a time to dream.
And when going slow let’s us see what we missed in our running days.
Green Life Blue Water 