Family

We went to Houston this weekend to visit Mike's family. We pulled in to his sister's house around supper time last night, and after we ate we spent hours looking at old family pictures, trying to figure out who everyone was. We found some really great black and white treasures--I'm hoping to sneak them home in my suitcase. If it works, I'll show you later. :)
My reason for having them pull out the old pics was that I had made Mike's mom a book. She has Alzheimer's/dementia, and I read an article that said they can read the written word and comprehend  it longer than you think they can, and it helps them remember things. So I bought a scrapbook and made very simple pages with big black letters on white paper, following this pattern: This is Michael when he was little. This is Michael now. This is Michael's family.
We took it to her today. I went fully expecting to have to hold it for her and read it to her, but thought at the very least it would give us something to talk about while we were there. (It's very hard to think of what to say after the first 5 minutes when someone can't answer you.) But I was in for a surprise! We went in and hugged her, and when we showed her the book we had to help her look at the right page occasionally, but SHE READ IT! Mike and I saw her lips moving, and heard her whisper the words, and looked at each other in astonishment. It was so amazing. My eyes filled with tears watching her. Maybe deep down she does know who we are.