A Bicycle Built for Two

Mother Chicken and her Chicks

Turkmenistan  2009

1 Chronicles 16:34
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

A virus is eating the memory of my laptop faster than Pac-Man can gobble ghosts. John's trying to save my documents, photos and music from oblivion, but it may be too late.  He's a great computer technician, and I'm holding onto HOPE, which is my watchword this week.

I remember HAL, the homicidal computer, in Stanley Kubrick's version of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  He has one of the best death scene lines from a science fiction movie:

Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a…fraid...

Thank goodness my little laptop isn't so evolved it can talk to me, but thought leads to thought tonight as I worry about memories stored on computer files slipping away from my grasp, and I think about my dad's mom.

Granny was diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, in the 1970s. Now, most of us in the family might lean toward Alzheimer's as a more fitting description of her later years, but that disease wasn't so commonly diagnosed when she was ill and losing her mind.

My Grandpa took care of her, which took a toll on his heart health, but he watched over her and kept her safe at home. She would forget to turn off stove burners in the kitchen, she'd get mad at one of her kids or us grand kids and turn his or her picture toward the wall.

(We could check our "Friend" status as soon as we entered their house by glancing at the wall to see what direction our school photo was facing.)

Grandpa cleaned her when she soiled herself, she talked to former neighbors and angels no one could see before she slept at night, and when she coughed and wheezed, Grandpa whipped up a homemade tonic of whiskey and lemon to soothe her.

They were married over fifty years and one by one, Granny's memory of that time evaporated. It had to pain Grandpa to witness, but he never complained. I don't know how Granny felt.

However, I witnessed this: They were together through the "sickness" part of their vows.  My Grandpa was a role model for me on how to treat a spouse who is ill and who is not going to get better.

Seeing someone lose her memories is scary and sad. There are no words to describe the hurt. Yet when love is in the middle of the illness, then there is hope that God is in control and somehow the family will endure.

How ironic that HAL the computer has been taught to sing the lyrics to "Daisy Bell,"  better known as "A Bicycle Built for Two".   This is the chorus:

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do,

I'm half crazy all for the love of you.

It won't be a stylish marriage -

I can't afford a carriage,

But you'd look sweet upon the seat

Of a bicycle built for two.

At his core, even HAL recognized love, but as a machine, he couldn't experience the power of it. 

Love is the greatest gift we can offer each other.  Right now, John is trying to save my personal files before he wipes my laptop clean and reloads all the computer files that should make my laptop run again. He should be resting after a hard day at work, so I  appreciate the love he's showing me tonight.

If I lose documents, I can write again. If I lose school files, oh well, so be it. Photos--well, I was there, I experienced the moments.

But love is one in a million; tonight I think I'll focus on love and not my loss.
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Dear Lord, thank you for your love-- displayed in so many ways over the course of my life.