Am I Wasting My Time?

While I was fixing supper, my wife, Candy, was in her recliner working on word puzzles as she had been doing most of the afternoon. When I was about 15 minutes from serving, I said to her, “Supper is almost done. This would be a good time to come to a stopping place and get ready.”

“Okay,” she said. “I just want to find the last couple of words in this puzzle.”

When everything is ready, I try to keep it warm without overcooking until she sits. I have learned not to give a time
frame in terms of a number of minutes. That only slows her down.

After we said grace, Candy asked me, “Am I wasting my time doing my puzzles?”

“Absolutely not. You know what the doctor said.” The geriatric physician who is caring for Candy on her journey with Alzheimer’s recommended word searches and other puzzles to help keep her brain working as well as possible and for as long as possible. At our last appointment he even told us that doing the puzzles may be contributing to the stability of her recent memory test scores.

“Thank you for preparing our supper while I’m enjoying myself,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

I reminded her that my job is to take care of her, and her job is to take care of her brain. That is what God has given each of us to do.