Almost Mom

Bob was immersed in spreadsheets when his cell phone rang. His hand reached for it automatically, and he answered before he could stop himself. He really didn’t want interruptions and needed to focus his full attention on his work.

“Hello?” he grumped into the phone. “Can this wait?”

“Actually, I don’t think you will want for it to wait, Bob.” His sister Candace said. “I think you’ll want to get on the next plane out of your beloved Silicon Valley and come back home as soon as you can get here.”

She had his full attention. “What can be that important? Is Mom okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine. In fact, she’s more than fine. A lot more. I can’t believe the improvement in her in the last month. I didn’t want to tell you in case she relapsed, but now I think it might last. And you’ll want to see for yourself.” Candace knew her brother. He believed only what he could prove.

“What improvement? She has Alzheimer’s. That doesn’t improve. It only gets worse.”

“Not this time.” Bob could almost hear the grin on Candace’s face.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Okay, I’m not sure. I just believe my own eyes. Come home, Bob. You really need to see Mom.”

Bob sat back in his office chair and rubbed his eyes. Too many late nights and early mornings had been hard on him lately. To be honest, I really could use a break, he thought. “I’ll call you when I get an arrival time.”

“Great!” Candace hung up before he could ask any more questions.

Scratching his head and wondering why he’d given in so easily, Bob asked his assistant to get him a flight back to Memphis as soon as she could.

The following morning Bob stood in line at Security, wondering why he had agreed to fly home. He hated to see his mother in her wheelchair at St. Dymphna’s, the nursing home. She just sat there, unmoving, unresponsive, day after day. It had broken his heart over and over, until he finally decided to take the job offer on the West Coast and leave Mom’s care to his sister Candace. Candace hated to see him go, but she understood.

When he got to Memphis, he went directly to the taxi stand. Candace had been a bit mysterious when she said she couldn’t pick him up, but he should hurry to the nursing home as soon as he got in. She said, “The program will start at 3:00, and you should be able to get here around that time.” Candace hung up before he could press for more information.

Bob paid off the taxi and walked into the lobby. It appeared that all of the residents were there, either sitting in the rows of chairs set up for the program or in their wheelchairs. He spotted his mother in the center of the front row, sitting slumped in her wheelchair. Candace saw her brother enter and walked over to join him just as the program started. She took his hand and pressed her finger to his lips to keep him from speaking. “Just listen,” she whispered.

Nineteen young voices began to sing. And Bob’s mother sat up straighter in her wheelchair. Before the end of the first chorus, she raised her arms, directing the children just as she had for over thirty years. She loved music and she loved children, and especially she loved it when they sang “Jesus Loves Me” as they were doing now. Her voice joined theirs, a soaring soprano that her own children hadn’t heard for years.

When the song ended, Candace drew her brother into the hall where they could talk without interrupting the program.

“What the heck, Candace? What did I just see?”

“The doctors aren’t sure either, Bob, but it isn’t unprecedented. I read an article about songs from their childhood bringing Alzheimer’s patients back, and thought maybe it would work for Mom. I went to the school and talked to the Principal about bringing the children’s chorus to the nursing home and he agreed. She really loved directing them and producing their holiday plays. If it would work for anyone, I thought, it would work for Mom. And it DID. When the children sang ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ Mom just seemed to come alive. It was a miracle.”

“How long does it last, Candace? Does she relapse when she gets back to her room?”

“A little bit,” Candace admitted, “but Bob she’s almost Mom again. I’m willing to take what we can get. Listen, the program is nearly over. Let’s go back in and see Mom. You’ll be amazed at the change in her.”