Cottage by the Sea, A Prelude

By Law Hamilton

She looked out the window as the snow started to fall. The sounds of other people’s day swirled around her like the snow being blown by the wind. She looked at the clock. He still had half an hour to arrive. Her gaze goes back to the window. The storm was not too dark, as the street lights had not come on.  She rolled the wheelchair to the window and raised the blinds for a better view. She did not hear her son enter the room.The hearing aids emitted high pitched frequencies too much for her to wear them, currently they are on the nightstand.

Unaware that her son had said hello, she demands “Take me to the cottage by the sea.” when she sees him enter the room.

“I’m glad to see you too, let me get you your ears,” he replies.

“I want to watch the snow fall into the waves.”

* * *

One Wednesday a month, Doug would take his mother on an outing - away from the nursing home and spend time with her beyond his caretaker role. She was not bound to the wheelchair, yet. But it was easier for her to use for any distance and she was in it more often. She could still stand up and get into his car. But he knew the day was coming when that would not happen. Sometimes they would take a “Sunday drive” to see the foliage change or holiday decorations in neighborhoods that were not familiar.

He liked to take her out to lunch, to give her a change of scenery and a good meal. He loved to hear her reminisce about the Thanksgivings of her childhood and other familial tales that she remembered so clearly.  The stories that were now decades old, he could recite them by heart, seemed new and fun now as she retold them with renewed life in her eyes.The hijinx of kids skipping school to go for a swim on a nice day sounds like something his son would do today.  Well, not in the snow - they would be getting out early or so Doug suspected.

“Mom, how about a nice lunch in front of a warm fire?” Doug asks. He and his wife had found a charming restaurant with a wood fireplace, not something his Mom would experience at the nursing home.

“No. We must go to the cottage,” she replied.