Friday, February 12, 2010

This, this is LOVE

My SHusband has one sister. Her husband, our SBrother-in-law has that horrible disease that robs your mind, bit by bit, Alzheimer's. She is such a sweetheart, takes care of him and says things like "he is so good to me". And she does it all with love, just as if she is only taking care of something like a minor injury or something. That is love, that is dedication, that is sticking to your promises, vows, intents of the heart without ever thinking you are forced to do this. They chose each other well.
She just does it, and as she takes care of him, he looks at her and sometimes he says thank you. He can not do very much for himself, but he can tell her thank you. In late November, we were spending time with him while she was getting her hair done. He, out of the blue started talking about not knowing what to buy his wife for Christmas. Making perfect sense, and showing concern. We mentioned a few things, he knew she is not into jewelry, and said so, rejecting that suggestion. Then we talked about flowers, his eyes lit up and he said "Why, THAT'S IT, tomorrow I will go buy her flowers". Within the next week, he took a turn for the worse, we all had great fears about his prognosis, in and out of the emergency room a few times. All were very concerned. We went to visit him at home, and decided to bring those flowers he spoke of, from him. We had a Christmas Bouquet made, and did a card for him that said "To my Wonderful Wife at Christmas". We arrived, told SSister-in-law the story of his plans for her for Christmas, and gave her the flowers from him. She turned to him and asked if he said that and he said yes, she kissed him and said thank you. I made sure she knew that it was his idea.
As I was leaving that day, I leaned over, kissed his feverish forehead and he said thank you to me. He knew, and his graciousness came through.
He still struggles, some days better than others, some days worse, but all along, nothing is too much for her to do for him, because she wants to, because she needs to. Because she loves him.
This is their wedding Day 54 years ago. This is a picture of LOVE, it is tangible when you look at them today.

No comments: