My friend Kathy (she decided to let me pick her pseudonym, so that's the name she's stuck with for the time being) wanted to participate in my group writing project, but she doesn't have a blog of her own. But that shouldn't stop anyone from writing, should it?

So, I made her an offer that I'll extend here to any of my other readers who happen not (yet) to be bloggers: e-mail me with your entry and I will post it here on my blog. Hope to read more of you soon. (Remember, the deadline for bloggers and non-bloggers is October 24.) Now, without further ado, Kathy's post...

We all have our own busy-ness and our own struggles. Living/learning to cope with my own mental illness during the past year and a half, happy memories have become my happy place. I try to document little moments of joy and put them somewhere for when I need them. I thought I'd share a poem I wrote about a happy place I once was with my dear, dear father-in-law, who has sunk further and further into Alzheimer's over the last 10 years.

your dense fog dissipates to misty tendrils

and you lift your head from your chest

eyes in focus, you face me and smile

and you speak with surprising clarity

a glimpse

of the you I loved before

I respond to your words

smiling at our connection

and then I hold your hand

as the fog rolls back in to the you I love now