No one thinks much of a shower. It’s something we all do in the morning before we head out for our day of mission. As I care for my mother who has Alzheimer’s I have found that the shower is such a sacred place. Once that warm water hits her head she starts to loosen up and relax. This is the place where she doesn’t have to remember anything. The warm water opens her arteries and her mind. I must say that it is one of my favorite tasks with her. She tells me everything in the shower. Things that I already know, but for her, she thinks she is sharing her life long secrets with me. To her I’m just a stranger who is assisting her. To me this is the most wonderful space in the world. It’s just me and her and warm water. Warm waters that wash away the shame, the regret and any other negative shadow that sometimes consumes her. I can take her into the shower while she rants and raves that she is leaving us all. Then when the water hits, it all changes. I watch as her body goes limp, as she moans in delight and as she slips into a cleaner perception of her life. By the time the shower is over she tells me that she could never leave here. That this is where she wants to be forever.
The greatest honor I have had is to care for my mother. I can’t explain how rewarding it feels to be here right now. I never imagined that this is what I would be doing at this time in my life, which only makes it so much greater because I could never have planned to grow so much by doing something so simple.
My mother has taught me to enjoy the simplest of things like the shower. Who knew it had so much power? I didn’t. Until now.
Thank you Mami.