Today, when I went in to see George he was sitting at the table just about to start his lunch. I said 'Hi, how are you today?'. For the first time he said 'who are you?'. During the entire time I was with him he had no idea who I was. He said that he was expecting someone to come to see him as he had just arrived in Christchurch from Invercargill. He had driven up. This actually happened in 1960. However at the time he was married with a young son. He did not have any knowledge of those slight details. He was excited about his new job at the Press newspaper. He asked my name so I said 'Diane'. He said that I must be a nice person. I then thought and said 'Kewpie' which is what he has always called me. 'That's a strange name' was the reply. He mentioned he had a 'best friend'. I said 'Ron'. He was thrilled, 'you know him too'. After I replied in the affirmative we had an animated discussion about Ron, mainly him doing the talking. At various times I called him JK and Glassy. He was thrilled and recognised his own nicknames. He wondered he had called him Glassy. I told him I thought it was Scott. He wasn't sure who Scott was but thought he was a little boy. He really appreciated me helping him getting his lunch on his spoon making it easier to eat. All in all things went pretty well I guess. As usual George was the perfect gentleman. At no time did I try to tell him who I was, he was so happy just being in that time frame.
Many people in this situation just say, 'oh he/she doesn't recognise me any more' and use this as an excuse not to visit. I don't agree at all. We just went with it as though his reality was reality. He was happy as Larry to discuss all that was happening. He was happy in the moment and that is what it is all about, Having the best quality of life we can give them. Go with the flow.
Be interesting to see what decade we are in tomorrow.
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