My good friend T.P. took this picture on Friday, June 22nd, our last day of vacation. I am standing on the shore of Lake Huron, where we’d been looking for a few rocks to take home with us. The choices were many, of all different shapes and colors, so we took our time before driving on to our respective destinations. T.P. would be heading south, to one of Detroit’s many suburbs; I was heading due west and then south for Madison, Wisconsin, looking forward to my daughter Chana’s baby shower. It was hard to end a vacation on such a beautiful day!
It’s hard to believe the above picture is already six weeks old. Or, as my brothers would say, just 46 weeks to our next vacation! Little did I know that in those six weeks, Cookie and I would engage not one, not two, but three different moving companies before we finally made it to Lewisville, TX. Thank goodness for Two Men & a Truck, they did an outstanding job!
Had I known all that was going to happen, I might have safely stayed on the shore of Lake Huron! But I know that lake pretty well, and how it can change in a moment. And being up north, its rare that the lake really ever warms up to temperatures we might be used to. As a boy, my body could take it, but I’ve grown soft as I’ve aged!
I must admit, the process of moving drained me. Not just the lifting and packing and all that, but the details that always come with a move. We had planned on moving the last weekend of June, and everything was set up for that date. Not just the move itself, but money transfers and banking, being out of our duplex on that date, and things we had set up in Lewisville. Delaying the move until July 10th & 11th meant paying for another ten days in the duplex, in addition to rent for our new place in Lewisville!
It was really hard for me to keep track of the details. I would write myself notes and lose them, or even worse, couldn’t figure them out. We had already done most of the packing, but I couldn’t remember where things had been packed. If it wasn’t for Cookie, I don’t know where I would be!
The picture, above on the lake looks really inviting. In truth though, the road we travel is rarely that easy. We are challenged at times, sometimes stretched to our limits. After they’re over, we look back at those times, and say, “How the heck did I ever do that?”
For me, it’s all about grace. It’s about seeking grace, moment by moment. Sometimes I find it, and well, sometimes I don’t. When I can’t find it, I do my best to try to keep searching, because I’m a better man when I do. Grace, we might say, is the most amazing currency; You can share it with others, but you can’t keep it yourself. Grace only works when you give it away. We must always be searching, for the need in this world has never been greater. Remember, grace isn’t grace unless you give it away.
Reflections on Dementia 