Watermelon lesson

My boss has the sweetest little tike, she is 1 1/2 and is starting to talk.
Today we tried a new word :"watermelon"
No way can I explain how she pronounced it, there was a lot of bl bl sound.
Watermelon was not exactly the sound we got.
We giggled and teased the poor kid in repeating it over and over again
and she knew she had an audience so she continued her babble.
This little vignette was in my memory bank all day and it brought me a smile.
Then I came home with my own watermelon and started to carve it.
Husband looked at me and then the fruit and he truly looked very
puzzled. Only last week did he have some and enjoyed it.
As I brought him a plate I pointed to the watermelon and said:
Help yourself to watermelon, dear.
He looked at me and then the counter and said "thank you" he picked up
his glass of milk and put it on the plate.
The watermelon is no longer in his vocabulary.
Is it to eat? Obviously he did not know that.
I was just comparing my day, a child excited that she can say the word and
an older person who no longer knows what he is looking at.
One is starting life and one is leaving.
The lesson was so small yet made such an impact.

I thought that just last week he knew this and now it is gone,
just last week...........one day makes a difference.
One day surprises you even when you KNOW in your heart that it will
happen.

As the tears are starting to surface I am fighting the flow.
How many tears can we produce in a a life time?
How many did we shed in the last 10 years?
Why are they always ready to just run down your cheeks and overwhelm you
with grief.
You know the diagnosis, you know how it will play out, you know all the facts so
why can't you just calm down and face the situation for what it is?
I have tried, there have been periods when I do very well but for the most
part I fall apart.
Chloe rejoices at her new word and Bob thinks a watermelon is a glass of milk.
So this is life, old girl, learn to cope with it.
Try to laugh at the old man and say : Silly man this is your milk! Here is a slice of
watermelon!!!"
Simple as all that! or is it?