If you've read some of my earlier posts you know Mona and I met in college in Southern California 43 years ago; in February we'll celebrate our 41st anniversary. You may not know that Mona's birthday is May 5th -- Cinco de Mayo -- and so growing up in the Los Angeles area we were familiar with the holiday recognized in the Latino community. We'd only been married a few years when I put the two together and began calling her birthday Cinco de Mona. Mona doesn't speak Spanish, or at least I didn't think she spoke Spanish, until just a few weeks ago.
I'll explain.
It's been almost eight months since she was admitted to the Special Care Unit at Life Care Center here in Casper, WY. A few of my earlier entries on this blog explain it in more detail but Mona was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's nine years ago and early in 2015 the disease had progressed to the stage where I was no longer able to care for her myself. It's been a very difficult, emotionally draining experience watching what this disease is doing to the woman I love but there are times when she is inspiring, and tenderhearted, and times when she is funny. Hilarious, even. Times when she'll say things that cause me to look at her and wonder, "Where did that come from?"
I visit her almost every day and about a month ago one of the nurses aides pulled me aside. "Does Mona speak Spanish?" she asked. "Because she speaks Spanish to me all the time." This was news to me because Mona doesn't speak Spanish. She knows a few words but that's all. She certainly isn't fluent and she's never spoken Spanish to me. Yesterday while I was with Mona this same aide walked up to us. "Scott," she said, laughing. "I can NOT get Mona to stop speaking Spanish. It's the funniest thing. Even if I just ask her if she's hungry or if she wants her sweater she says 'Si'."
Mona was standing next to us, nodding and laughing along -- ("Oh, my. Isn't that something?") -- not realizing we were talking about HER.
The aide looked at Mona. "Mona, do you speak Spanish?"
"Eh...un poquito."
"Mona, say something to us in Spanish."
"Yo quiero...(well, it sounded like 'yo quiero' followed by a bunch of gibberish that kind of, sort of, maybe sounded like it COULD be Spanish)...por favor."
Cracked us both up. And a few minutes later the aide told me when she does get Mona to speak English she speaks it with a Spanish accent. So again I look at her and wonder, "Where did THAT come from?"
Cinco de Mona. Maybe I'd been planting seeds for years and didn't realize it.
