Soul Song
A Story of Family, Faith, and Love in the Midst of Alzheimer’s
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I jolt back to the here and now and look in to my mother’s eyes, only to see a vacant gaze. For the thousandth time I wonder what my mother sees, what penetrates the fog that has become her existence?
Once again Becky Kennedy had been remembering another time, a time when her mother, Gloria Bridges, was a vibrant, beautiful woman. Today she is frail and absorbed in the fog of Alzheimer’s. Robbed of all but the here and now, she is a shell of her former self. She lies on her bed quietly, fidgeting with the hem of the blanket between the thumb and forefinger; back and forth, back and forth.
If she knows I am in the room, it is her own secret. I reach over and hold her hand. Her paper-thin skin is a soft shell for the blue-veined fingers that still have a grip on her blanket. Mom manages to put a slight pressure on my thumb, diverting her blanket rub for the moment.
“I love you Mom,” I say. “I love you very much." I don’t know whether she understands me or not, but I believe that if there is an awareness of comfort for her lonely place, I want to give her that.
“Would you like for me to sing some hymns?”
My mother was the church pianist and organist, along with the work-week role of church secretary. She loved all kinds of music, but hymns were her favorite.
“Which hymn would you like to hear Mom?” I know there will be no verbal response. I haven’t heard my mother say my name in over seven years, or speak at all in probably five. You see, this is our twenty-second year of this dreadful disease.
“Let’s sing Dad’s favorite, “How Great Thou Art.”" As I begin this old favorite hymn, I feel my mother grip just a little harder on my thumb. I know that she hears me and I know that this is a place of comfort for her, a place hopefully where the melody penetrates the fog if only for the present moment.
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About the Book
Becky Kennedy seemingly has it all – beautiful daughters who are successful in their own right; a thriving law practice, and a condo that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico with sunsets casting orange, red and purple at the end of each day. But a closer view tells the rest of the story.
Becky has been a primary caregiver for her mother over the last twenty-two years. As Alzheimer’s has robbed her mother’s memory, Becky and her father have continued their faithful care for her. Then, just two short years ago, Becky lost her husband in an automobile accident that left her struggling to cope with the grief of that loss and the day-to-day decline of the mother she loves.
Soul Song dives deep into the connection of a daughter to her mother in the final stages of life, when memory is gone and faith sustains, while also experiencing the joy of her relationship with her daughters as their futures grow and their paths are revealed. In the end, faith, family, and love endure all in this compelling story.
About the Author
Constance Morris has written the novel Soul Song to provide inspiration to those who have family with Alzheimer’s or other long-term illnesses. She lives in Florida with her husband. This is her first novel.