I had the chance to visit the Texas Hill Country recently and the rich Fall
colors from sycamore, maple and oak trees bordered the winding highway to
create a most enjoyable ride throughout that special area of my home State.
What
an awesome feast for the eyes! An accumulation of emotions surfaced as my eyes
focused on tree after tree in passing. I
thought about the change of seasons, the change of colors, the change of time,
the journey of Alzheimer’s.
Why
do these leaves change color anyway? A
short Science lesson tells us that plants use glucose as food for energy for
growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar is
called photosynthesis. A chemical called
chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants
their green color. As summer ends and
autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees
"know" to begin getting ready for winter.
During winter, there is not enough light
or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they
stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories.
The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades
away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors
have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer,
because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll. The bright reds and purples we see in leaves
are made mostly in the fall. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from
wastes left in the leaves.
I was thinking about these changing
colors of leaves, and the Thanksgiving holiday, as I met with a distraught
caregiver whose wife has Alzheimer’s. He
is definitely in the winter of their lives.
The sun has faded into non-existence for him, so to speak, and his
family is changing routines and gatherings, much like the leaves change their
colors. The “bright green” has
definitely faded from their once “chlorophylled” lives, where the wife/mom took
care of the family, organized and prepared holiday gatherings and gloated over
children and grandchildren.
When “winter” comes harshly for a
caregiver…those days when he/she has given every ounce of strength and emotion
in caring for their loved one with the disease and nothing works...we should go
to our “food” that we have stored during our “summer” days...those days when
there was some cognition with our loved one, the days when he/she was
manageable, the days when the whole family enjoyed a myriad of present
moments This “food” or captured memories
provides us with a means to sustain us, the opportunities to store that
biographical history of our loved ones and opportunities to educate ourselves
on the progression and characteristics of the Alzheimer’s journey. Our colors only change when we peel back
those layers of green chlorophyll and allow ourselves to bring forth the
yellows, and reds and purples, and then, wisely, throw away all the browns, the
wastes, which are the regrets, the guilt, the “could’ve/should’ve/would’ve”
mantras that occupy our minds in the caregiving process.
So, as the majesty of Fall colors fade,
as leaves make piles on the ground, as we change seasons and draw near holiday
gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas, hold a single leaf in your hand. Think about how its life has changed through the seasons, its purpose in
providing food, nurture and protection, and its wonderful aspect of being
something of unique beauty that the eyes can behold.
That’s someone with Alzheimer’s, too.
It’s just that the world is sometimes too busy to recognize the change
of colors.
Dana Territo, Director of Services
