Faithful Friend

My father (left) and his first friend, Lawrence (right), have known each other from their very earliest years growing up in the St. Elmo area of Columbus. After Lawrence's family moved out to the country, Daddy visited the "Cheney Place" and enjoyed riding horses and playing with his friend on their farm. They've remained friends for 82 years.

Now, Lawrence has Alzheimers' Disease. In sad irony, Reba, his wife and stalwart, seemingly healthy caretaker for this disease's duration, died last month, shortly after a surprise lung cancer diagnosis. Lawrence does not know that she is gone.

For several hours every Monday, Daddy sits with Lawrence at the nursing home  - feeding him, getting him water, making him comfortable, trying to converse with him. I know that this must be incredibly hard for my father, but he is glad to be there for his friend, even though his friend no longer knows him.

Today Daddy made an extra trip to the nursing home to visit Lawrence and tried several different ways to content his old friend.  He remembered that Lawrence liked ice cream - a lot - and went to find some for him. After something of a hunt, the staff produced a cup of strawberry ice cream, which Daddy fed to him. Lawrence eagerly ate all of the dessert. And then he cried. My dad's eyes welled up in telling me about it. "He cried because he enjoyed that ice cream." Probably true, but I think that Lawrence cried because, at some level, he knew that he was loved.