Change of Seasons, Change of Colors

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