I was sitting in Dad’s apartment today, cleaning his hearing aids that I found buried in his jacket hanging in the closet. A rerun of a college basketball game was on the TV and Dad had absolutely no interest in it. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him staring at me as I alcohol-swabbed and changed the filters. He wants to be with family, always. It makes life a little more challenging, for sure.

He doesn’t really converse anymore, but he will answer questions with one word or one sentence responses, and it is a struggle to come up with something to talk about, because I am mostly talking to myself. Caregivers of dementia parents, you get me, I know.

Dad has a picture frame that scrolls through downloaded pictures, and as we sat in his room and I desperately looked for anything to talk about, Ginger Ingram and Wonder Dog appeared, a picture my brother had taken in his studio.

“Dad! Remember Wonder Dog?! I was just a-wonderin’? Remember him, Dad?” I proceeded to talk about Ginger and her puppet ministry and the days when she would come visit Mom and Dad and stay the night, and I reminded him of the services she held in the Hutchinson area when we would load my girls up in the car with Grandpa and Grandma and go see Ginger and her puppets.

His eyes lit up a little, and he said, “Oh, kinda…” and chuckled.

The next picture was of Ginger and Lamkins and Linus the Lion.

“Dad! Remember Lamkins?! Remember Linus the Lion? He always said, ‘I ain’t lyin!'” And then I instantly remembered Ginger’s song she always sang with Lamkins, so I sang it to Dad…

“His little lamb I am, His little lamb I am, Jesus loves and cares for me, His little lamb I am.”

I am not sure those words are completely correct, but I sang it like I was sitting on the front row of one of Ginger’s services, mesmerized by her gift of ventriloquism.

“Dad! Do you remember when she would sing that song?”

“Oh…yeah, I do.” And he had a smile on his face that was so very sweet.

***

Those are the moments I need to hang onto.

Tonight, I am grateful for memories that still live in my mind and my heart.

I am grateful for people God placed in our path over the years who made a lasting and eternal connection.

I am grateful Ginger answered the phone today – it was so good to hear her voice and catch up on life.

I am grateful for Ginger, and Lamkins, and Wonder Dog, and Pinky-Poo, and Linus the Lion “I ain’t lyin!”, and Grandpa and the song he sang at Mom’s memorial service, “Grace Loved to Tell the Story…”

And I am grateful my Dad still has some memories that allow us to reminisce.