Lupine and Poppies...

Today, while my laundry was in the dryer, I volunteered to walk with a senior struggling with Alzheimer's. I had to look in the dictionary to find how to spell it. Alzheimer's. I resisted looking up the word, almost as fervently as perhaps many of us resist our friends or relatives who live with this disease. Those who dedicate their lives to working with Alzheimer's patients are gifted and selfless indeed. I do not possess the gift or the training to work with this special population. I am merely a well meaning amateur at best.

Alice, my neighbor remembers less and less. But, upon seeing me, she asked me to take her for a walk. There was such sadness in her plea. Of course, I said, "Yes." Dearest reader, you would have done the same. You would not be reading these words if it weren't for your caring and loving nature.

Alice pointed to the hill across the road, and thus began our walk. Sky, flowers, plants, trees, colors became meaningless words to be replaced by the sheer joy of the moment. And that is how long, in terms of memory, our walk lasted, moment by moment. Shards of present tense.

We searched for squirrels and blue birds. We did not find any. But, we heard chirping in the pine trees. The sky was a deep grey haze. "No white clouds!" Alice said. I nodded my head in agreement. "No, white clouds." I answered.

Lupine and poppies are said to always grow side by side in the wild. Folklore, or fact, I do not know. But, always, where ever Alice and I walked, the blue lupine grew alongside the turmeric yellow of poppy. Maybe, that is the way it is supposed to work out for all of us? We may be different in shape, size, ability. But, we are meant to compliment one another as we grow in God's garden. Was this my lesson of the day? Is this what I was meant to learn and apply?

What do you say, my good and faithful friend? Do the flowers in the wild speak in prophetic messages of love?

Alice and I circled the hill and made our way back in time for the beeping of the dryer. I folded my clothes as Alice watched. "They're white!" Alice exclaimed.

"They are white." I answered cheerfully.