Valentine

Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's years ago, and she has been on supportive meds for a long time. She is doing pretty well, and in the average conversation with her you would not notice any deficits. Mom used to draw beautifully.

I remember one year she hand-painted a scene from Cinderella on my birthday cake. Idiot-child that I was, I wanted the plastic commercial cake figurines that you could get at the grocery store--but even then I  recognized the  effort and skill, the time it took her to mix the dyes and paint the cake with colored icing.

Mom always had nice handwriting too. This year she made my dad a Valentine. If she has lost ground in her drawing and writing, the heart and feeling are strong as ever...