“You must be Stanley.”
“Stan, ma’am. Just Stan.”
“Then Stan it is,” she said with a smile. “I hope you’re patient. I move slower these days.”
From that moment on, my assumptions disappeared.
For several weeks, my responsibilities were simple.
I drove her to medical appointments, charity events, lunches with old friends, and every Friday to the cemetery where her husband Arthur was buried.
She never cried at his grave.
Instead, she spoke softly to him, as though he were sitting beside her.
Over time, she began asking questions.
“How old are your children, Stan?”