Off the Wall

I've been with I.B. for 31/2 months now.  Everything is different...enhanced. Everything.  #'s are lower, muscles stronger, balance better, brain sharper, with awareness that now resides in the "keen" catagory. There is great freedom here, in this space that floats between us.  Humor has always been a key component of our relationship, but recently, it has expanded to loud, raucous laughter...the kind that buckles the knees and brings a sense of ALIVE-ness to the surface.  It is joy...simple and powerful joy that we have found.

She taught me how to make fried chicken one evening last week.  Stood side by side with me for longer than I've ever seen her stand.  I've waited for that moment for a long time....it's hard to keep focus on hot oil with tears in your eyes.  Later that night, we were debating something...I don't remember....but I suddenly told her that I would thumb wrestle her for it.  She'd never thumb wrestled before (or so she claimed).  It took 1/2 second for her to catch on, and we were off...I got the stink-eye from her as she tried to psyche me out before and during the match.  She's really quite good.

We've started screaming to/with each other while doing the evening's standing stretch.  I guide her up out of the big lounge chair, and while holding hands, we together swing our arms all the way up towards the ceiling....something about that movement makes both of us open our mouths...it was a quick transition to screaming like children on a rollercoaster.

She told me the other night (after stretching) that she's been feeling more aware lately, and wondered if I had noticed any change in her..."every day", I told her.."every day".

Namaste

Along the same lines as the last post, for this is a recurring theme....IB and I were discussing memory..she said she felt so sorry for the old people in the nursing homes who cannot remember their loved ones who come to visit.  The irony slapped me all over the place...we talked about how those "old people" may remember their kids, but only as kids, and may not understand that those kids have grown up... But the fact remains, the senior remembers the kid on the HEART level, regardless of age.
I taught IB the sanskrit word "Namaste".  "The light in me sees the light in you".  Age makes no difference. Names makes no difference.  Brain function makes no difference. The heart knows, and the heart remembers.  She loved the term, and asked me to write it down.  It sits on the kitchen table, where she can look at it every day.