He's Got Wit

Boy, was I wrong - about being ready that is. I mean how does one ready themselves for the arrival of an almost 82 year old man with a little dementia, but a lot of wit. I've been told that dementia patients become very clever at fooling you into a false sense of "everything is just fine with me, but if you're having a problem maybe you should go see someone." We played tic-tac-toe at the diner while we waited for the food and Pop-Pop wants to keep score and says to my daughter, "What's your name?" She tells him and he writes down an abbreviation of her name. So I asked, "Dad," you know, as a test to assess if he indeed does not know his 16 year old granddaughter's name, "What's her name?" He gives me a concerned look and tells me if I didn't know the name of my daughter after 16 years that maybe I should write it down and put it in my pocketbook. My first instinct is to recite the names of all my children, my cousins, my grade school teachers, my neighbors, my church members and the Gettysburg Address to prove to him that my memory is indeed intact. He smiled - he knew her name but he was too tired to call it from his brain that was a bit weary from the day. He's not hiding his weakness or trying to fool anyone. He was pulling my leg in a subtle joke that showed me I need to lighten up. The subtle joke was remembered and continued 1/2 an hour later when Pop-Pop went into the room we prepared for him and he said with a 'cat that just ate the canary' grin, "Tell that 16 year girl to stay out of my room!! You got that!" Yeah, I get it, I just let a man with mild dementia make sport of me. Dang - he's good. It's the first real laughter we've heard from Pop-Pop in months, so we all laugh and relish in it - even me - I laugh until I cry. And now I'm not so scared tonight as I go to sleep with a baby monitor humming in my ear, listening for any sign of trouble from Pop-Pop from below. His breathing is slow, but strong and his dreaming is deep and calm. And all is right in the world. Amen.