Note Taken
Chaplain O. Kris
Widmer, BCCC
(Board Certified
Clinical Chaplain – CPSP)
Idea: October 24,
2018 Printed: October 25, 2018
R is for Resident
My Lord is a writin’ all the time,
but then… so is Roberta (not her real name),
the resident in Room 113, Bed B (not her real room or bed.)
She opens her 70 page, 1 subject notebook
It is already well filled with the date of her life.
(How many notebooks has she filled? I wonder!)
Today,
She sits in the Resident Council Meeting
As if she is the assistant secretary
Taking minutes.
She opens to a random page.
She writes,
Then closes her book in satisfaction.
Note taken.
She takes up a smaller scrap of paper,
writes on it,
folds it,
then tucks it safely away.
Note taken.
She has a new idea.
She again opens to a page.
She jots it down, in her singular scrawl.
She closes the book.
Note taken.
“There.
Idea captured.
I’ve written it down for later.”
What did she do in her pre-dementia years?
What is she writing now?
Minutes?
To Do List?
Poem Idea?
Prayer Journal?
Last Will and Testament?
Ideas for a Novel?
We don’t know,
but there it is;
In clear, indecipherable black and white.
She writes.
Note taken.
In the meeting,
The activities director and his actual assistant
Try vainly to decipher the cursive
On various complaint forms.
It is better, but also illegible.
I join them in this futile task.
Just then…
Roberta’s stick pen run’s out of ink before our very eyes -
But, she finishes the current sentence anyway,
and with a flourish of penmanship.
The activity director sees this disaster
And deftly hands her his.
No, he won’t need it back.
She writes on.
I reach and take her empty pen.
She lifts her gaze to me with panicked eyes.
“I’m going to need that,” she protests!
Note taken.
“Your pen is out of ink.” I state the facts.
“Use this one for now.”
She writes.
God only knows what she writes, and I believe they DO know!
Yes, the same Spirit
that translates our groanings
transcribes her squiggles.
Scribble on, Roberta, Scribble on.
Note taken!
