Senior Day Care

(photos to follow by august 6)

So, here they are, after all these years. Going off to Senior Day Care. I get up early and go over to drive them there.

First order of business, "Where are Dad's teeth?" I go upstairs and retrieve them gingerly from a Styrofoam cup where they have soaked and rested all night.

Emily stands over him as he puts them in.

We get ready, slowly to go to our Trial Day of Senior Day Care. I watch them poignantly, the way a mother would watch over her child going off to Day Care for the first time. I watch them as they come out of the house. The morning sun cast behind them...bathed in light, they are cloaked in light as they walk, somewhat unsteadily towards the car. I watch them..bathed in light...as if all their transgressions and faults and bickering were just somehow dissolved in that one moment of purity...when light envelopes them...

and then they are just walking towards the car..they get in and I drive them over..

making sure they get out just right and yes, go sit on the bench over there....while I park the car...yes..just over there..sit down....

I park the car.

and there they are...sitting on the bench..like obedient children..

We walk into the Senior Day Care. It is a caring environment...that feels nurturing and stable.

I hug them and leave them to their day..

It is a busy day for me..I rush around..from here to there and back again...and yet at one point of my day...I find myself driving past Senior Day Care place..just like any anxious parent wondering how their child is doing on their first day away..

Later, I pick them up. My dad is talking more than usual...my mother seems relaxed and happy. I hug the director...We speak briefly..

Home again. A good day after Senior Day Care.

the setting sun bathes us in a different kind of light..