Guideposts – August 2019

56 GUIDEPOSTS (^) | August 2019
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neighbor’s yard. Other times we gave
up and he’d come home later.
I began taping notes near all the
exits. First asking nicely not to let
Beethoven out, then insisting, “do
not open the door.” Nothing helped.
Mom had grown up with outdoor dogs.
She just didn’t understand that letting
Beethoven out without a leash turned
into an unplanned game of catch me
if you can. Several times a day he es-
caped and we chased.
Once, I was busy in the kitchen when
I noticed Beethoven was whining loud-
ly at the front door.
“You’re not getting out this time,” I
said to him.
I turned to remind Mom not to let
him out, then realized she wasn’t in her
usual spot on the couch. Nor was she
anywhere on the first floor. I looked out
the front door. There she was, wander-
ing around the yard.
“Mom!”
I led her back inside.
Beethoven became Stevie’s con-
stant companion for the three years
she lived with us. He always seemed to
know when Mom was somewhere she
was not supposed to be.
Eventually the day came that Mom
needed more care than we could pro-
vide for her, and she moved back to
Seattle, living in a facility near my
sister-in-law. Beethoven sat at the top
of the stairs by Mom’s room for many
evenings after she left. But he stopped
whimpering by our bedroom door. He
knew that his job was done.
Not bad for that dog.
DONNA DENOBRIGA
WINNINGHAM
Cookeville, Tennessee
I
walked into the living room
after a long day at work as a nurse
practitioner. There was my 93-year-
old mom, Eleanor, right where she al-
ways was at this hour—drinking a glass
of wine on the couch. She had moved
in with us after my father passed away
six months earlier, and I worried that
she was lonely. I was gone most of the
day, and my husband, Jim—though
retired—sometimes went to run er-
rands or check on his own folks 45
minutes away. Who could she talk to?
CAREGIVERS