“How did you get your hair like that?  It’s so curly!  I didn’t know you had curly hair.”

“It’s just like your’s, Mom.  I got it from you.”

“Oh…well, it’s really pretty.”

I smiled a sad smile as I overheard this conversation today in the waiting room at the doctor.  It was between a daughter and her elderly mother.  It was clear, coming from my experience with my Grandmother’s dementia, that the mother was suffering from memory loss/dementia.  The daughter was so gracious about it, unfazed that Mom couldn’t remember that her hair had always been curly.

Mom didn’t know why she was at the doctor.  Daughter told her that they were just checking things out again to make sure it was all okay.  Mom sighed and said, “Okay.”

The circle of life continues and I am both captivated and saddened by the ever-churning waves.  I want to build a ship in a bottle and cork it just to preserve it forever.  I want to take the battery out of the clock and make it stand still.  I want to freeze this spinning world without it getting frostbite.  I want to stop my beating heart without flatlining.

Curly-haired Daughter, I bet you want these things too.