Three Comments

There have been signs of actual improvement in Cindy. Her pace as we hiked in the desert was at times brisk and less distracted. We took a break from desert hiking to bring Jerry back to the airport, staying with his friends Dave and Jannette in Huntington Beach the night before, where three comments by Cindy provided further hope.

Dave invented the StreetStrider, essentially an elliptical machine that actually moves you. Jerry, Charissa and I all took a turn on this unique workout machine. Cindy also attempted to take a turn. She was unable to get her feet in the right place, which led to familiar heartache, yet I was surprised she was willing to attempt something new. Was this another sign of improvement?

Our hosts have two small dogs and we got into a discussion about dogs in general with Jannette. Cindy strung together a few coherent thoughts about getting another rescue dog when we return home. She stumbled with a few of the words, but the significance was more in her courage to converse using more than simple sentences.

All along I’ve observed and maintained that Cindy (and my Mom) is/was much more aware than her level of communication would suggest. One video went viral for revealing the marvel of a man with Alzheimer’s who came out of his shell to talk with a dog. To me that’s not such a marvel; communicating with a dog carries less risk of embarrassment. In that light I was impressed with Cindy conversing in complex sentences with a new acquaintance.

Another hopeful comment came at the dinner table while Jerry was sharing a story about his cat. You knew he was leading up to sort of a punchline regarding a change in the cat’s behavior. Cindy interjected that the cat was about to have babies, a plausible explanation for the details which escaped me. There turned out to be a different answer, but Cindy had have been paying close attention to the details of the story, processed those details with some very present critical thinking and once again had the courage to assert her view.

A third comment was encouraging in one way, sobering in another. During a walk of the dogs I explained to Jannette our mission, for Cindy to hike the PCT. This time Cindy interjected: “which I still haven’t done.” Since I am not sure Cindy will be able to hike out here again I half hoped that when we reached the border she would feel like she accomplished her goal already. The tone in her voice suggested dissatisfaction with something unfinished, yet hopeful that she would finish eventually.

Those three comments taken all together provide a sliver of hope that maybe she still can fulfill her dream in the future.