Eternally Loved

"I know that is my husband in the back seat and I know he loves me...but I am so confused .... I don't know anything else." She paused and then said, "I am eternally loved."

It was a rainy day. I had planned to just pick Comer up from his assisted living apartment, drop him to visit his wife Evelyn at the Alzheimer's unit, and then return when he was done visiting. But I went up with him to say hello to Evelyn, and the whole place struck me suddenly as so oppressive.
"It's raining," I said, "But the Bradford Pear have all burst into bloom. Would you like to go for a drive and go see them?"
"I would like to go for a drive!" said Evelyn, her face bursting into bloom itself.
"I love to go for drives," said Comer, "I loved to do that even before I was unable to do anything else."

A woman passing by on her way out from visiting her husband overheard us and said, "If you want to see the Bradford Pear, go to Wendover St.  They are lining both sides of the road, all in bloom. Gorgeous!"

So we shuffled to the car, and I pulled out my GPS.
"Oh my!" said Evelyn as the GPS began to speak and tell me where to go.
"See Evelyn," I explained, "I just follow this pink line. I never get lost anymore."
So we drove to Wendover. The woman had been right. It was glorious. The Bradford Pear were resplendent, overflowing with blossoms. They met together in an arc over the road. It was like a cathedral- a cathedral of flowers. Evelyn smiled, content and happy.

Then we drove to areas that she had once known. Comer began to recognize where we were.
That is when Evelyn spoke up, "It seems so familiar....but I don't know anything. I am so confused."
"You know you are eternally loved." I reminded her, echoing her own words.
"Yes."
"And Jesus loves you, this I know ...."
"For the bible tells me so," finished Evelyn, her anxious face breaking into a smile again.
"And Jesus loves you eternally. "
"I know. "
"Well what more do you need to know?! "
"That's right," laughed Evelyn.

With each blossoming tree we passed, we tried to name it. I knew a few, but we passed one I didn't know.
"That's a dogwood," said Evelyn.
Comer smiled in the back seat.
We turned into a neighborhood that was tucked away on a steep forested hill. There were daffodils spreading like stars on a cloudless night across the lawn. We slowed down and all of us cried, "Oohh!"
Then we passed a huge stand of bamboo. The stalks were 6 inches around.
I stopped and lowered Eveyln's window.
"It's like being in the jungle!" I cried.
"It is like the jungle," she agreed.
"Would you like to see some wild swan?" I asked.
"I would like to see wild swan!" said Evelyn.
"I am not sure we can see them from the road but let's go look."
Evelyn shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her hip bothers her for long stretches of sitting.
"Then we can head back," I added, "Would you like that?"
"Yes," the elderly couple said.

We drove slowly by Shadow Lake and there, near the edge of the lake, where my friends could see them from the car glided the swans.
"Do you see them?" I asked, pointing.
"I see them," said Evelyn.
"Aren't they beautiful?"
"They are beautiful," she answered.

As we started back, quiet in our respective thoughts and enjoyment of the beauty of the spring, Evelyn suddenly broke the silence, "I sure have enjoyed this." She beamed at me, with the old Evelyn breaking out of the fog of Alzheimers.

But as we pulled into the Senior Center grounds, she said, "I'm so confused. I don't even remember my middle name..."
"Do you remember your first name?" I asked.
"Yes, Evelyn," she said smiling.
"It is a pretty name," I said, "Do you like it?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well that's good, since it is what you are stuck with."
She laughed.

And I guess that is our choice in many things. If we are stuck with it, it is sometimes best to like it. Or at least to make the best of it. Some of what we are called upon to make the best of stinks. But some of it is water in the desert, blossoms suddenly appearing on barren trees, wild swans making a home in the neighborhood pond, and the memory that hasn't yet died that we are loved, eternally loved.

Psalm 105: 4-5, 12-13, 41-43

⁴ Look to the LORD and his strength;
   seek his face always.  ⁵ Remember the wonders he has done,
   his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

 ¹² When they were but few in number,
   few indeed, and strangers in it,
¹³ they wandered from nation to nation,
   from one kingdom to another.

⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed like a river in the desert.
 ⁴² For he remembered his holy promise
   given to his servant Abraham.
⁴³ He brought out his people with rejoicing,
   his chosen ones with shouts of joy;