Viewpoint: Lori and Terry's Great Adventure

??Thanksgiving was always my mom’s favorite holiday.?So, on Friday, Lori and I made the five-hour drive to the long-term care facility in Ransom, Kansas. Visiting times are limited to one hour right now so we decided to spend the night at the family farm so we could see her both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

?Mom turned 90 last July.?Mobility became an issue when the pandemic somehow required everyone stay in their room.?There was a virus lurking in the hall.?Mentally, her memory is sharp for a woman of her years and her mind operates well.

??She has developed a bit of paranoia with age.?One of the ways this manifests itself is her belief that sometimes when family visits, we are actually imposters.?In fact, she told Lori during this last visit it was amazing how good the actors and actresses were that impersonated us.?Often, she is fooled.?Mom works very hard to determine if you are who you claim to be.

?The farm was a bit of a challenge.?No one has lived there for several years.?Friday, before the first visit with Mom, we arrived, turned on the water, failed to be able to light the hot water heater, and got the door unlocked and a window or two open.

??I decided to go to see Mom alone the first night, and Lori would join me the next day.

??As I left, she asked if anyone would likely stop by.?I believe my exact quote had something to do with one in a million…….?

?Someone stopped by.

?William Deines farms the ground that Mom owns, helps take care of the property and has been a friend and Godsend to Mom.?His kindness and concern cannot be described in words.?It is as if she is his mother, he cares that much.

?How he knew we were there I am not sure, but he stopped by, knocked on the door and apparently decided Lori was not a vagrant who was living in an abandoned family home.?In fact, they had a very nice visit and he missed me by only a matter of a few minutes.??

?Friday evening, we went to the nearest larger community, Hays Kansas.?We shopped a little and drove by a restaurant that looked familiar to both of us.?We figured out that it had been where Lori and I had dinner on our second date.?The year was 1989.?The food was still good but, unlike our date in 1989, I did not spill salsa on my white polo shirt.

?The house needed a little debugging via a vacuum cleaner and some dusting but we slept well.?We solved the no hot water situation by boiling water on the stove and getting enough heated water for Lori to take a bath!

?There were other things: like the couple who noticed us at the local Dairy Queen and shared that they read the Viewpoint.?The WaKeeney paper is kind enough to print it each week.?There was the purchase of a reindeer lawn ornament in the store that was my first non-agriculture job.?

??Mom shared tender loving moments about Thanksgiving growing up.?Especially poignant was a story about how her sister, Arlene, refused to have Thanksgiving anywhere else even though she was undergoing chemo treatments.?Cancer eventually ended her life.?Aunt Arlene died the day our son, Keegan, was born.

?The Saturday visit flew by quickly and Lori and I said our goodbyes.?I gently hugged Mom and gave her a kiss on the cheek.?She looked up at me from her chair and, one last time, asked if I was really me.??

?I responded in the affirmative and looking toward Lori told Mom, “She can vouch for me.”??

?Lori confirmed that I was really Terry Kraus, Mom’s favorite son.?With the timing that would have made a veteran stand-up comedian envious, Mom replied to my wife, “I’m sorry.”

?Lori and I are not – we were blessed by our great adventure.