Holiday Time
I love to travel, but it’s good to be home. I was on the road a lot last week. But that’s done. And now starts the planning for the holiday season, Thanksgiving, then Christmas. I pretty much skipped them both last year, but my wife enjoyed the holidays as did I. So, I think spreading joy might be the way to go this year, using happy thoughts of Christmas past, to build new memories for those left behind.
I’ll start with Christmas cards. I actually made my own cards this year, and one of the things I’ll be doing in the coming weeks is addressing envelopes. My wife used to handle this chore, but I started doing it as her dementia progressed. She had an address book, with a year written beside each name to show the last time they got a card. I kept it up, and I even added names, particularly if I got a card from someone new. It was a nice rote task that helped keep me going.
Now, I’m on my own. But not really. Because alone is a relative term. All my friends are still here along with my family and there’s love to go around. Granted, my late wife is missing, but we still have her memories and she’ll always be a part of me, which pretty much guarantees I’m probably a better person for having met and loved her. So, now seems a good time to put it all into action and spread that love as far and as wide as I can.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale