Threads of Love, A Journey Through Alzheimer's

Winnie Elizabeth Jones Winslow
April 10, 1923 – August 10, 2007


THREADS OF LOVE
A Journey Through Alzheimer’s

Under the cover of darkness, you were an unwelcome visitor,
And like a thief in the night, you stole a name, a place, a voice, a look, a word.
In your wake, you left vacant stares, tearful eyes unable to focus on a thought.
You came to destroy on an unseen battlefield and we had no swords to fight you.

As you marched through the middle of her life, emboldened with each new step,
You ravaged her memories of a long ago childhood and left her filled with fear.
Only after you staked claim to her body did you extinguish the light behind her smile,
And she was left in obscurity to face shadows with names she no longer knew.

Reaching out to her mother, her brother, my father – all those who had long ago died,
Mother wept because they became strangers and she thought their love for her had ceased.
Unable to reason or understand, she withdrew even more into her shadowy world,
Where she sought that one familiar voice, that one familiar face to bring her comfort.

Standing alone on the empty stage, her silent tears fell on the dusty floor of make believe
As the endless, unknown journey continued to strip away the decades of her life.
Yet, even as the battle raged, Mother saw an angel come before her in the dimness of her room
And we knew, joined together by these threads of love, I would stay and she was going Home.


THREADS OF LOVE©
Joyce E. Winslow
July 7, 2007