"I wish I could see my sister"
Monday, November 21, 2011
By: Joy Fatooh

"I wish I could see my sister"

"I wish I could see my sister one last time."
"Why not? I could take you there!"
"Could you really? That would be wonderful!"
And so we made our way: by walker to the driveway, by car across the state, by wheelchair through the airport, by jet from California to Minnesota, where my mom reunited with my Aunt Joy at her Alzheimer's care center.
For months her sister had been unable to speak, but my mom never was daunted by singlehandedly holding up one end of a conversation. And you could see Aunt Joy light up in the most subtle ways. My mom was so grateful, and talked my ear off on the way home. I was grateful too... and within a year, she too was in Alzheimer's care, and today can only say four-word sentences at most, like:
"That would be wonderful."