Little Old Man

Now that we have reached "a certain age' some of our friends and relatives are facing serious physical and mental health issues. We are fortunate to live in a time when many of these are treatable, and for that we are grateful. Still, we know that no one gets out of this world alive. 

For most of our lives, we had never heard the word "Alzheimer's", and today it pops up almost daily. It's used as a catchall phrase for what we used to call "senility." Senility is a much gentler term. 

One morning, about 7:00 AM, I came home from walking the dog. An elderly man was sitting in my chair in the living room, watching TV, in his stocking feet.. He smiled and waved at me. I went through to the bedroom and asked my husband who he was. I thought maybe he was waiting for him. He assured me that he had no idea, and began to get dressed. I called 911 and waited outside. The yard man came, and he sat on the steps with me to wait for help. Just then we heard a lot of shouting, and l we could see husband and stranger tussling. My husband uses a cane to walk, which must have seemed threatening. The stranger yelled “Don’t hit me with that stick!” The yard man and I went in and broke it up before the emergency crew got there. When they did, they called him by name, and led him to the police car for a ride home. He was an Alzheimer’s patient who lived a few blocks away, and they had taken him home before. He told the police that he came over every day to rock in one of the porch chairs. He really didn’t want to go home.


When they left, I found the man's little shoes on the back porch. It made me cry.