When A Name Triggers Tender Memories

As I was driving to work, I heard on my car radio a familiar name of a nursing home. Immediately memories of our search in the late 1990's for a suitable one for my mother in law, who had failing health, came back.  Included in these flashes of events was a certain feeling in my heart for a tender moment that occurred during this challenging but inevitable part of my whole family's lives.

My two daughters were with me as I searched everywhere for the best nursing home close to where we lived. We got to a place about thirty minutes from our house where a nursing home with the name I heard on the radio was located. The rooms were clean but small and dark. The residents looked neat but glum.

My first born daughter, Wendy,  is a quiet, soft spoken and not an opinionated person. I was surprised at the end of the visit when she exclaimed, "Do not put grandma there." sounding like a command. It was out of character of her to be that bossy.
I knew then how much she loved her Grandma Beaty who lovingly helped me raised her and her sister, Bettina. She wanted the best place for her and this one we visited was not up to her standards.

Her Grandma sold her house in Alma, Wisconsin and moved in with us when Wendy was born in 1982 in Ames, Iowa where Bob my husband, her son, and I finished our graduate work,  She was with us in Kansas City, Missouri where Bob worked at his first job and finally in Monroeville, PA where we have been since 1989. Wendy was a senior in high school in 1999, when my mother in law moved to a nice bright nursing home  near our house.

In 2000, we would be in Alma where in the only funeral home in this town of less than 900 persons, my mother in law was laid to rest. My quiet, shy daughter, Wendy, unabashedly sobbed as her casket was taken away. I watched then and was touched and now remember with tears in my eyes this great love of my daughter for her grandma who had lovingly helped raised her.

In a way I was grateful that name of the nursing home triggered  back these memories. I needed to take that journey back when I got to witness my daughter show both her vulnerability  and strength and I, in turn, receive the precious gift of knowing her more.

Memories like this also  help tenderize  a cynical heart. It did these past few days when I have been in an overwhelmed and "angry at the world" state. As I shed tears as I was writing this post, I felt my heart soften, feeling more understanding and empathy for others who were in a rotten state as I have  been. You really do not know the power of a word or name sometimes and the memories they evoke. I am grateful they were consoling ones in this case.