Well I can see why my Dad is so happy!  And so smitten!

 

I have been excited all day to see my Dad as I the last time I saw him, got to give him a hug, was the morning after Mumbo’s funeral.  I have been nervously excited all day as he was bringing with him the lady he can’t stop talking about, smiling about.

 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  And maybe that is because I have started to train my mind to really live in the moment and not to overthink how I will feel, react before the moment itself.

 

The last time my Mumbo came to Yorkshire was almost a year ago and it was a very stressful weekend.  Everyone was tense, worried, nervous.  Mumbo was in the tight clutches of Alzheimer’s and swung from paranoia to jolliness, irrational to tender, vacant to engaged, angry to loving…

 

I remember feeling very confused by the woman in my kitchen;  wanting to mother her, love her, protect her, protect my children from her, shout at her, push her away and yet pull her close all at the same time.

 

I remember wanting to give my Dad a rest and some time… but she only wanted him.  The weekend was not a happy family weekend at all.

 

The lady in my kitchen this evening was a joy and a pleasure to be in the company of.  She emanated a sense of calm.  Her voice gentle and soft as she speaks and even reads to Willy as he draws. Her answers confident as Tom fires question after question at her…  Her pretty blue eyes twinkly as she teases my Dad and he teases her….

 

The lady in my kitchen this evening makes my Dad happy and he clearly makes her happy too.  They joke like they have lived together for years… they are sweet lovebirds, cuddling on my sofa, tender touches of the hand… they shyly share how they met, under the bus stop in the rain and how they went for a walk and instinctively held hands.

 

The lady in my kitchen this evening got the double thumbs up from the boys as I kissed them goodnight.  Even from Willy!  And he is hard nut to crack… their best bits tonight were seeing Grandad and meeting Edna.

 

The tragedy of losing my Mumbo looks like it is going to have an happy ending..

 

A happy ending for 2 people in particular who have been carers for so long, losing the ones they loved to a cruel disease of the mind…. They deserve to have found love and companionship and I am so glad it has happened so unexpectedly.

 

A happy ending for both our collective families, for seeing others happy is happiness and our happy family weekends are now sure to be restored.