Tuesday 27 November 2012

Treasuring what you've still got

Someone was worrying online about her mother who wrote down the names of people in their family and her relationship to them.

I can understand the upset when the list was first discovered, but the positive way to view it is that it's good that she can still read and write and, even better, can reason that if she writes the names down this might help her to remember them.


Personally, I don't worry too much about names. My wife knows who I am (and will probably at some stage not know). She doesn't use my name. So what? She knows who the important people in her life are when she meets them and when I talk about them. These are the things that matter. 


She's not been able to write for a long time. I tried to help her retain the skills involved for as long as possible but it got too frustrating for both of us. I'm almost certain she can't read. At all. But I don't know for sure because when I understood how awful it was for her to be 'tested' (by anybody) I stopped testing her and asking her test-like questions.


One's expectations change. But the important thing is to try and make the most of what you've got - today. You might not have it tomorrow.

The best way to look at it is not 'What have we lost?' but 'What have we still got?'

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