Emily

I had visited my grandmother in the nursing home where she lived out her last several years of life. She had developed dementia later in life and lived to be 93 years old. However, it was my grandfather and eventually my mom who had Alzheimer’s earlier in life.

I remember my grandmother would talk about Oliver, my then deceased grandfather, coming home for dinner around 5pm. That’s what she thought, anyway, and she was excited to see him. I had met another guest in the nursing home, who rolled around in her wheelchair without a care in the world it seemed! Smiling and chatty, and happy wherever she thought she was.

I started to think how could someone like that be so happy? When it was so sad that they couldn’t remember anything? I realized that I was the sad one. The song Emily is about a woman with dementia who is happy, content, looking forward to having tea with a friend. Even if the friend is imaginary, isn’t the happiness real?