Another week, another photo prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for Friday Fictioneers. The photo this week is courtesy of Janet Webb and you can see how others have interpreted the prompt here
Still Living at Bankside Farm
“I did find it mum, it’s a ruin though. Look. I took a photo for you.”
She smiles up at me
“I’ve found your old home, it’s a ruin.”
She takes the photo and stares
“My room looks out over the bottom meadow, towards the mill.”
I sink down beside her, taking her hand
“Mum, remember. You live here now, not Bankside Farm. You haven’t lived there for years.”
She giggles then whispers,
“I saw Jed with the cows this morning, he blew me a kiss.”
My plan didn’t work.
I look up at the face I love, and smile.
( I am researching my family tree, and Bankside Farm was once home to some of my ancestors. It does look a bit like place in the photo now)
“I saw Jed with the cows this morning, he blew me a kiss.” My favorite line.
Thank you, I think it was mine too
Such a real scene for some readers…hard to live with the failing of a loved one….
Caring for a loved one who has dementia is distressing; watching a once alert,agile mind, slowly forget everything and everybody, is heartbreaking.
So sad for the narrator – Mom seems happy in her dreams, but unfortunately she’ll be lost in the fog again. The narrator’s attempts to start a conversation and Mom’s reactions are well written.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment
Nicely mingled present, past, fiction and non…
Thank you for reading, much appreciated
Dee
What a blessing that someone loves her enough to do so much for her! It must be terribly difficult for both of them, but you showed how the love came through.
janet
Thank you Janet. A difficult Illness to write about and incredibly sad, but there are times when the light goes on and hope bounces back, along with some humour sometimes.
Sounds as though you have some personal experience with this and I’m sorry if you do.
Yes my husband’s aunt. She was a wonderful, caring lady who we all loved very much. It was incredibly sad to watch her slowly disappear into the past, the worse thing was realising that she didn’t know who we were.
I can only imagine how difficult that must have been. Good for both of you to be with her anyway.
Wonderful use of the prompt.
Thank you for reading
her mother lost in the past..with no idea of the current world..sad nostalgia..very well done
Thank you for reading and for your comments, much appreciated
Beautifully sad. Well done,
Thanks for reading and commenting Sandra, always appreciated
Dear Dee,
This one strikes a chord with me as we’re watching my husband’s mother rapidly slip away from us. Beautifully rendered.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Rochelle
I am so very sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. It is so distressing caring for someone you love, while watching them slip away from you, and being powerless to do anything other than love them.
You’re in my thoughts
Dee
Hi Dee,
Sweet mother-daughter story. I liked the devotion of the daughter in the face of her mother’s memory loss. Ron
Hi Ron
Thanks for reading and commenting, much appreciated
Dee
sad story and one too many families see. Very good read.
Thank you Jackie, pleased that you liked it
Dee
ahh, maybe she’s going home afterall. this was lovely.
Thanks for your comment and for reading.
Dee,
If they are going to forget let them remember a kiss blown to them, a sunny day and the happiness they once found in life. A sad but sweet story. A great job!
Tom
Thank you Tom, a lovely sentiment. Glad you liked it
Dee
this is such a tender and beautiful tale.. a reality for some. great story
Thank you for reading kz.
Sadly, it is reality for a great many people.
Glad you liked the story
Very nice and so, so sad.
Thank you for reading Shirley, good to hear from you.
A very touching story. I have two friends whose wives’ are going the same way. One of the cruelest diseases.
Thank you.
So sorry to hear about your friends’ wives, it is a very cruel and unrelenting illness.
Very touching and real.
Thank you. Glad you liked it
We take photographs to capture a moment in time, but that moment seems perpetually lodged in her mind. Such a sad way for people to live.
Thanks for reading Joe
It is sad
Thanks Joe.
It is very sad