A Visit from Dotsy

She was holding court, dispensing wisdom on marriage, money, on anything and most everything that came to mind. A mind which often was more than a little confused and convoluted. But not today.

It was May 2, 2011. My mom was sitting in a chair, the hospital bed in close proximity. She did not know why she was there. The bruise on her chin and under her eye the physical evidence of her fall a day earlier, when her blood pressure dropped and she had fainted.

Yesterday my son was wiping clean an old device before it was to be discarded. And then he stumbled on this video.

My mom suffered from the effects of dementia the last decade of her life. She passed away in 2017 and it is often hard for me to remember the days when she was still something more than something far less. When she was still able to make me laugh. When she was still able to laugh herself.

This video is the perfect Mother's day gift to me. My mom once more alive and bordering on well. I was quite taken by how often I was smiling through these eight minutes (and also by how young I looked). I sometimes forget how much joy she brought me.

The years after this video was shot were progressively harder for my mom, as well as for my sister and me as we watched our mother dissipate until she had virtually disappeared from view. But today my mom appeared to me but a little battered and bruised, not broken. A little forgetful but definitely not forgotten. A little less than whole but more than I ever expected to see again.

Today my mom returned for a visit. Just in time for Mother's Day