I spend a good amount of time at the old people home.
And there’s this one couple that just makes me smile and want to cry every time I go over there.
The woman has been at the home for a good 5 months.
The man doesn’t stay at the home but (since the first day she moved in) he comes everyday at exactly two and leaves at exactly six.
Everyday they do the same thing.
He comes in. He gives her the biggest hug. He tells her a joke.
She laughs. She smiles. She asks how his day has been.
He brushes her hair while they watch dramas in a language neither of them understand, muting the TV and dubbing their own voices in.
Dorkiest couple ever.
But she has Alzheimer’s and sometimes she just forgets who she is.
Or where she is.
And on occasion, she forgets who her husband is.
Once, she didn’t know who he was and she freaked out when he walked through her door. It took the nurses several tries to tell her that he was her husband and that yes, he was allowed in her room. The man looked heartbroken. They didn’t do their routine that day. They sat awkwardly in her room until six.
It doesn’t happen often. But when she does forget who he is,
the look on his face never fails to make me tear up.
Still he comes. Everyday. Without fail.
Walking in through the door at two. And walking out at six.