This morning I breach the topic of religion. I explain that I’m not in a position to understand many of the Christian messages that I receive because I don’t have the background for it. I do think, however, that in my experiences I’ve developed an appreciation of God as a permeating life-force in the universe, that I have faith in this God, I’ve experienced a kind of prayer, and I earnestly seek more understanding. We each note the difficulty of relating to the other’s terminology. She is encouraging, and tells me that she sincerely hopes that in my searching I discover an appreciation of God’s son. We leave it at that.

The morning is consumed by chores and errands. I buy her a little piece of software I know she’ll love that creates a virtual pet dog on the desktop that you can play with and care for. I think about all the years that Leenie has lived alone since my grandfather died – more than I have lived.

For lunch we meet Seth Obetz, Suzi’s son. A strong, muscular fellow, he greets me for the first time with a hug. He’s nice like Suzi but also very businesslike about everything: his work, school, fun, marriage. Everything is a project he is taking the proper steps to complete. I fail to mesh entirely with him, but enjoy the meeting.

Leenie has a dinner obligation, so I spend some time updating my addresses and go out for a sandwich. When she returns we watch the movie Lean On Me together on TV. It’s fortuitous, one of the few movies we could really enjoy together. I wonder what it looks like through her macularly deteriorated eyes.