Posted 4-24-19
Mom’s favorite number, at least since she has started struggling with Alzheimer’s, has always been 5,280. You know…that “number of feet in a mile” number? I have mentioned that before, but I am intrigued by the fact that she still uses that number whenever I bring up anything that implies a number.
I have to wonder if mom had a teacher that drilled her hard over memorizing that number. I can hear her saying “You know Brenda, 30 years from now people may carry ‘calculators” to multiply distances …and 50 years from now they may carry their phones (shrunk down to a wee size and so fancy that they won’t even talk on them!) that are built so that a metal object in the sky communicates with them so well that it can be ascertained within a foot exactly where on the globe they are…not a mile…a foot, max!). Those may someday help you with numbers, distances and computations…but until then you need to remember this somewhat trivial fact!”
OK…maybe not. However, I do stick with the thought that something keeps that road connected in a jumbled up superhighway that is her Alzheimer’s damaged brain. I think I may know what it is…but first some useless facts to memorize from the Encyclopedia Brittanica:
“Mile, any of various units of distance, such as the statute mile of 5,280 feet (1.609 km). It originated from the Roman mille passus, or ‘thousand paces,’ which measured 5,000 Roman feet.
About the year 1500 the ‘old London’ mile was defined as eight furlongs. At that time the furlong, measured by a larger northern (German) foot, was 625 feet, and thus the mile equaled 5,000 feet. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the mile gained an additional 280 feet—to 5,280—under a statute of 1593 that confirmed the use of a shorter foot that made the length of the furlong 660 feet.”
My theory why that number is special to her is a solid if a non-provable one. For at least 10 years (roughly the length of her dementia mile) she has joked using that number…and we laughed and smiled. Nothing makes her happier than seeing her kiddos happy… and likewise. Similarly, even when she is in a huge rut, when I make a raspberry sound at her she does it right back and we both belly laugh. It is a near sure thing even now just as it was in the late 60’s/early 1970s when she did it for her crying kiddos. If you want to summarize what makes our parents happy, seeing us happy and thriving has to be high on the list. Our folks and step-folks have always gone the extra mile for us that way.
#EndALZ