"I knew what Alzheimer's was, but I didn't really KNOW until that day" ~Ashley B.
Car Keys and A Violin
Papa driving my mother and her two sisters.
For as long as I can remember my grandfather drove any car he rode in. He hated being a passenger. If ever there was something he hated more than being in the passenger seat, I was not aware of it. Even when he got diagnosed with Alzheimer's he continued to drive. He got a custom license plate so even if he forgot where he parked he knew which car was his (both license plates said his name... it was sort of comical). I knew what Alzheimer's was, but I didn't really KNOW until that day. For me, his disease became real for me when he was late picking me up from a violin lesson. It was my first lesson and my grandmother, who loves music, stayed with me to hear me play. I would imagine it was actually rather painful for her to stay seeing as I was laughably horrible and barely played at all anyway. After the hour spent mainly learning how to hold the damn thing I was ready to get out of that house.
My grandmother and I decided to wait outside because the lesson after me was starting and it was a nice day. My grandfather was not there yet but we figured he wouldn't be more than 5-10 minutes since we where only 5 minutes from my house. Plus, he had literally just made the drive not an hour ago. He even had directions! Ten minutes passed. Then, twenty which turned into thirty. The hour was marked by the arrival of the next lesson. We finally gave up and called a neighboor to come pick us up. Sandy, the neighboor, arrived at 6:18pm, an hour and fifteen minutes after my lesson ended. I was finally leaving! We were all concerned. Sandy, the friend who picked us up, headed towards home. We passed my grandfathers car going the other way, but another person was in the car with him. I was confused as to who he would be driving. Did he make plans and forget me? Sandy turned around and followed him.
When we finally caught up to him we looked in the car to see a stranger in the passenger seat directing him. The man was a runner whom my grandfather had passed many times. My grandfather had even asked him for directions twice and finally the guy just offered to go with my grandfather so he would actually get to us. When we asked why he didn't answer our calls he said he had turned his cellphone off because the noise was annoying him, and then forgot about it. I finally realized just how bad this would ultimately get, and more importantly didn't really trust my grandpa to drive alone.