Lon

It smelled of medicine, bleach, and scrambled eggs. They'd just finished with breakfast.

Today, her eyes were bright, and almost twinkled. Today would be one of her better days. Some days she couldn't remember what year it was, or who the president was, or where she was. Other days, she could recollect the past in such vivid detail, one would think it was playing out right in front of her eyes.

"Tell me about Grandpa," I ask. Her favorite topic.

"Lon," she said with a smile, "he was the most handsome of all the men training to be pilots. I can still remember him coming into the restaurant with all of his friends. They were laughing and cuttin' up. He stopped me dead in my tracks. Never had I seen such a handsome fella. He was in his uniform and he looked so dashing. Stella and I were sitting a few tables over from them. I got up to go powder my nose…Well, to walk past and get a better look." She laughed. "As I came up to his table, a waiter passed by me, and nearly dropped the tray he was holding. I stumbled and fell right into Lon! I was so embarrassed! I just knew I was beet red! He jumped up and helped me to my feet. Then, Lon looked at me…with the most beautiful blue eyes you ever did see, and he smiled. Right then and there I knew."

The nurse came in to check her vitals. As she spoke with the nurse, my mind began to wander.

I always wonder where she really is. Whether the present is her reality or whether the 1940s are her reality.

I also wonder how it would feel to be in her shoes. Good days and bad, the memories of yesteryear always shine the brightest.

I then began to wonder…When the sands of time have almost run out, and my hair is white, and my eyes are crinkly with age, I wonder where my mind will traipse back to.

And then I realize, with assurance, what the mind forgets, the heart will remember.  Just like Grandma, with her Lon...no matter how many years pass by, no matter the distance, I will always remember you.