April 21st is Barbara's Birthday

April 21^st, 2015

Yesterday morning, I cleaned off the white board on which I write the day & date for Jean.  It is a new board, by Crayola, which does not work as well as the old & demands a great deal of attention to clean & maintain.

I leave the board blank, & go off to the kitchen to fix Jean’s breakfast.

When I return, Jean tells me:

April 21^st in Barbara’s birthday.

I serve Jean her breakfast of eggs & a side of strawberries & then yogurt & blueberries.  And then I change the date on the demanding white board & I check the veracity of Aunt Barbara’s birth date.

According to my Uncle Mansel’s book:  A Texas in Australia, my Aunt Barbara, the next to youngest of my grandparent’s nine children, was born on April 21^st.

Of course, because so much of what is about me in Uncle Mansel’s book is wrong, I decide I trust Jean’s memory.

April 23^rd, 2015

This afternoon, I decide to ask Jean to talk about her sister Barbara.  And then I notice her nails & remember that I need to cut them & file them down.

I am a failure at manicures – my own nails are a testament to that fact.  I believe in nail salons the way I believe in dry cleaners to launder shirts & training sons to do their own ironing.   But I cut Jean’s nails & I file them in my inept way.

Jean thanks me, my nails feel better, she says & then her eyes wander to the shelves next to her bed that contain books & supplies & movies & I ask her if she would like to listen to some music.

I think that would be nice.

So I pull out Carole King’s Tapestry & when I Feel the Earth Move under my Feet blares out, Jean’s feet & legs & arms begin to move to the music & she smiles.

So, later, I will ask Jean to give me her favorite memory of Aunt Barbara.

Right now, she is still feeling the earth move under her feet.