Bumpy Road To Texas - The Last Valentine: An Exerpt

The Last Valentine 

 copyright Martha Sutton 2008

The mind is a very fragile thing and watching a stroke patient teaches us if we carefully observe. My mother had had a stroke about twenty years before, so this was not entirely new to me. 

 One day, John did something that made me pause to reconsider how he was thinking. It gave me a little glimpse into how he might be seeing things, or how he might be thinking. 

 I took crayons and paper. John took hold of a bright crayon and made a chain of X’s and O’s: hugs and kisses like he used to put on my Valentines cards. I picked up a crayon and drew hugs and kisses back to him. The corner of his mouth was upturned, almost into a smile! 

 Another evening, a nurse showed me a watercolor painting John had done that day. I’m not sure what it was but he used the brightest blue and sunniest yellow too, with brush strokes that must have taken great patience. He might not have been as sad as I was!  

 John was listening to poetry one day. The young girl was tall and fair. Her name was Carly who came by now and then to visit the residents at Regency Manor. 

John patted Sadie’s head although he did not remember that Sadie was his dog. He was eating parsnips now. I guess he forgot he did not like them! Dad asked for Billy and Ed and Grandma. 

 I felt John was more tranquil now. He did not always call me by name but he knew that someone “safe” was there. 

 He often mentioned that he had been born in Scotland and sometimes talked about people from the old days – people who were now dead. 

 One day, my cousins came in from Eastern Ontario and had their Miniature Schnauzer with them. Now, you have to think about John being an all-round judge who knew all the standards for all the dog breeds, say over 150 of them. 

 He looked at Duke and said, 

 “I remember you. You are German. You were our enemy during the war. You are a nice fellow.”  John patted Duke who stood proud. 

 So, John’s mind remembered some of the details of the breed but not the name of the breed. He knew Duke was a good representative. 

 Later in the year, when it was our wedding anniversary, the nurses at Regency Manor set a special table for John and me to have dinner. There was a bottle of non-alcoholic wine and some fancy napkins. I was nicely surprised and thought this was a kind gesture from the staff. John did not realize any of it but that was not the point. We were together and it was our last anniversary – 18. 

 When you no longer can communicate with your spouse, you must rely upon your memories and think back on all the anniversary dinners and Valentine cards. 

 Severe illness, to some extent, teaches us to be gentler to those we love and remember that today is what we have. For tomorrow is guaranteed to no person.