Dear Darcie 28.04.17

Dear Darcie,

Today you made an old lady very happy. We went to see my Nana, your Great Nana, she’s nearly 91 years old (that’s 90 more than you!) and has got Dementia which means she has forgotten a lot of things about her life and the people that she loves. It must be a very frustrating thing to live with and she has been poorly with various other things too. She lives in a Nursing Home which is a very nice one as they go but still not as nice as living in a house with a family, the way that we do. It’s hard to know how she is feeling but I expect that she feels lonely and sad a lot of the time.

You helped me pick out some pink tulips on the way to see her today, I held up pink, yellow and white bunches and you gestured excitedly at the pink so we took them to brighten up her room. When we arrived, she was very tired and quiet and the flowers went basically unnoticed, but you on the other hand, you definitely didn’t. As soon as she saw your happy little face, beaming away and heard your beautiful babbling, she visibly perked up. You have no idea of the effect you have on people. You just go about your sweet baby ways, oblivious to how happy you make the people around you.

She didn’t feel like talking today but she held out her hand for you and you reached out yours and held it. Her delicate papery skin and your chubby little fingers couldn’t have been more different, but you were both happy to be there in that moment. You don’t really know about being gentle yet so I had to remind you not to hurt her. It seems so strange for you to be in a position to hurt a woman so much older than you that I can remember so clearly being so much stronger than she is now.

It’s sad that you will never know the woman that she was. She loved to bake and some of my clearest and fondest childhood memories are of us baking together. When your Granny Helen went into labour with Uncle Mark, we were baking a lemon meringue pie in the kitchen of our house in Wales, I remember waving my wooden spoon out of the window totally oblivious to what was happening. She would always have a tin of either shortbread, rock cakes or some other homemade treat when we went to her house. She has a great sense of humour that she has held onto even as the dementia has advanced. She loves birds and had an amazing collection of bird ornaments, maybe that is where you get your love of ‘the quack quacks’ from. She also hated having her picture taken so photos of her are few and far between. Even though you will never know her the same way I did growing up, you can ask me about her and your Granny will be able to tell you even more than I can.

Thank you for being such a sweetheart with her today, although neither of you will remember it, it meant a lot to know that you brightened up one of her days.

Keep shining my little ray of sunshine!

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