Thoughts while washing dishes:

As we reach a certain age, we tend to marvel at how swiftly the years pass. Our children grow into adults, then their children do the same. Our friends die. Our bodies deliver more trouble and pain. We find that we are called upon less often to offer our opinions or to volunteer our services.

Some of us find our minds betraying us.

When this happens to the person you love most, you try to take up the slack, assuming responsibility for those myriad details that keep a household and a marriage running smoothly. You develop a level of patience that has eluded you for years as you explain things, repeatedly, in the hopes that your dearest one is able to grasp them. You hope that she gets it and doesn’t ask you the same question yet again. But she does, and you smile patiently and gently tell her again. And again.

You hug a lot. You cook, launder and clean. You serve every need you can. You pray for strength.

In sickness and in health. You remember uttering those words together, and you find joy in being able to deliver on that promise.