Where to go?

A friend forwarded this poem to me. It reminds me of all the pills Ed had to take. They were all different colors, sizes, and shapes. They each had a job to do, and up until just a few weeks before he died, Ed knew which pills to take, how many, and at what time. I am not sure he, or I for that matter, knew exactly what each pill did.

Every weekend, when I went to visit Mama and Ed, I put together the pill box for the upcoming week. It could be quiet confusing trying to figure out which pills were taken in the morning, which ones at noon, which ones at dinner time, and then sometimes there was one or two to take at bedtime. There were also multiples of certain pills...maybe two in the morning, three in the evening. Whew!

I finally decided instead of going by a list, I would take a picture. The picture was attached to the side of the fridge with a magnet, and the list came down each weekend to lay on the table to use as a guide to fill the pill box. As long as he was able, he sat at the table with me and 'helped'. 

At one point, Mama felt like Ed didn't always know what he was talking about. His speech was increasingly hard to understand and he sometimes switched words about without meaning to. This one particular evening, Ed somehow made Mama understand that he missed a pill. She told him no, that all the pills were in the box for that day, and that he had taken each one. No, he shook his head. He held up one finger. One missing. No, Mama said. Up goes the finger. One missing, he insisted. Mama was aggravated with him and I suppose they went to bed a little perturbed with one another. Ed was convinced he had missed a pill. Mama was convinced he had not. She even had me on the phone with him telling him I was sure I made up the pill box correctly.

The next morning, after breakfast, Mama was sweeping the kitchen floor and under the kitchen table was a pill.  Ed had a look of satisfaction on his face.

SPECIAL POEM FOR OLDER FOLKS

A row of bottles on my shelf

Caused me to analyze myself.

One yellow pill I have to pop

Goes to my heart so it won't stop.

A little white one that I take

Goes to my hands so they won't shake.

The blue ones that I use a lot

Tell me I'm happy when I'm not.

The purple pill goes to my brain

And tells me that I have no pain.

The capsules tell me not to wheeze

Or cough or choke or even sneeze..

The red ones, smallest of them all

Go to my blood so I won't fall.

The orange ones, very big and bright

Prevent my leg cramps in the night.

Such an array of brilliant pills

Helping to cure all kinds of ills.

But what I'd really like to know........ ....

Is what tells each one where to go!