Come Spring (poem written in Nov. 23 years ago)

Seasonal depression and the sun-downing of dementia in my mother that winter made me try to find hope in another spring season I began going through nursery and seed catalogs planning our flower and vegetable gardens. It gave me something to look forward to and a hope for better days.

Now my sister and I face the same seasonal depression and her sundowning in probable Lewy Body dementia as she nears the end of her final stage of Alzheimer’s. She has loved growing thing as well. Even after she became crippled with Parkinson’s, we made sure she had peppers and tomatoes as well as flowers growing in pots on the patio where she could see them. When I visited last a couple months ago, she was still enjoying little bites of her cowhorn pepper along with her meals.

Gardening for my sister on this earth has come to an end no doubt, but in this depressing season and with all my losses, I must plan again and look forward to another spring season. I have let my gardening go over the past few years and it’s time to pick it up again.

Meanwhile I keep walking. Next September I will walk my 21st annual Alzheimer’s Walk. In the Memory Garden ceremony I will remember my sister as well as my mother. And I will keep working to see the day of the white flowers for the first survivors of Alzheimer’s and other dementia.

bench

http://www.zarcrom.com/users/yeartorem/ComeSpring.html

Come Spring (poem as part of PowerPoint presentation)