I was thinking that perhaps I am wrong when I say my grandmother with dementia or the residents in the memory unit/nursing facility I visit, do not remember anything of our time together - something remembers some thing …

One youngish lady who must've had a stroke of some sort, who sits in her wheel chair just staring, always just staring no matter what I say, yesterday responded to me for the first time in 5 months - we actually had a mini-conversation!

Mrs. Owens who used to say nothing, who was in the middle of a bed bath, no pants being cleaned like a baby, eyes glazed over, forgot all that and brightened up when she saw me and said HELLO so fully, her eyes shining brightly then;

Another woman I always stop to say hello to, whose hand I hold even if she doesn't seem to see me, who yells all the time, but nothing coherent, just guttural sounds, as she moves aimlessly in the halls, took my hand and somehow guided me to her room and had me help her from her wheel chair onto her mattress which was on the floor; she just wanted to lie down. I was familiar to her and she knew somehow that I would help her….

Next to her, her roommate who I have seen many times before but who I have had little interaction with "recognized" me and allowed me to take her precious necklace with a cross that was broken, fix it and put it back around her neck. She was so grateful; She has just 2 teeth and yet you'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful smile.

My grandmother who doesn't remember where the shower room is is remembering to hold onto the pole on the wall when I scrub her back and when I dry her hair or help to put on her pants remembers to hold onto my waist or shoulders now without being prompted. I'm not sure what is remembering but something is…it is not just me playing this memory game.

We are connected in ways we can not understand. These moments mean something to all of us, even if there does not seem to be recollection the next day. Connected kindness is felt by both parties.

Yes, Robert Valett, I agree with you - "The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand."