Inside a man's mind.

I'm going for daily walks with an 84-year-old man. With dementia. Maybe Alzheimer's. Always seems to be happy. Maybe it's that he's not aware of his dementia. If he was, he probably wouldn't be so happy. His wife has dementia, too. And she's aware of it. To some degree. She doesn't always come across as happy. Maybe because she has some knowledge of her condition. Probably makes her insecure. Not wanting to make a fool of herself. Anyway, I tell the man to focus on one thing. Our walk. To, in a sense, wear blinders. Savor the moment. The walk. To observe nature. The environs. To forget everything else. I try to get him to listen to what I have to say. Just as I listen to him. It's mostly his world that I enter. Makes me better understand what is inside his mind. --Jim Broede