One of my most favorite movies to watch this time of year is It’s A Wonderful Life. It doesn’t have a ton of universal appeal because many people think it’s kind of dark and depressing, especially because it explores the theme of George wanting to end his life. But I think it has an absolutely phenomenal message when you watch it all the way through. Actually, there are a lot of phenomenal messages throughout it, but my favorite one is summed up in the quote from Clarance the Angel in the book he leaves for George Bailey.
“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”
There was only one point in my time with Mitzi when she was going through a tough enough time where she worried me so much that I let Gary know I felt we should be extra careful about how fragile her emotional state was. It didn’t last a long time, and medication helped get her over that period. She did, however, tell me constantly she would never do anything to hurt herself…but it was obvious she was having a hard time. And who could blame her? Alzheimer’s is a tough burden to bear and there’s no telling what happens emotionally in people with Alzheimer’s Disease as different areas of the brain are affected. One nurse from Hospice said it could be like a war zone going on in there. That broke my heart and only served to inspire more compassion in me for trying to help her through those difficult times.
Regardless, when we were in the throes of that hard season, the best antidote was, as always, to take her all around town to visit her friends. Some she had known forever and some she’d only known a short while, but they were all the best medicine to keep her going.
A wave of Mitzi Memories flooded my mind and spilled down my cheeks at the end of It’s A Wonderful Life when I watched it the other night and read Clarence’s quote about how important friends are. If there was ever anything Alzheimer’s couldn’t steal from her heart, it was the value of friendship…????
