The Show Must Go On

Tabitha came into our meeting, her hair hanging in her face. “Does anybody have a hair clip in here!” she called out. 

I’ve written about Tabitha before. She had been a professional dancer for years, and she still believed that her career continued on stage. 

I went to my purse and found a hair tie. “Here, Tabitha,” I said, gently pulling her hair back into a half-up, half-down do.
I finished fixing Tabitha’s hair and looked at her. Her bright blue eyes shone out from her wrinkled face. She was a beautiful woman, especially now that everyone could see her face. 

“You’re ready for the big show!” I smiled, knowing that there was no actual show. 

“Ah yes! The big show!” Tabitha said, immediately jumping into an imaginary world with me, as I expected her to. 

“You know, I’m a little nervous about the show. Not all the girls get along. It’s like one does this, one does that…you know how it is.”

I smiled as Tabitha stared off in thought. 

“…but you know, I think it will be alright,” she continued. “Once I get up there, it will be alright,” she said, nodding her head.

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Rachael Wonderlin is an internationally-recognized dementia care expert and consultant. She has a Master’s in Gerontology and is the author of three published books with Johns Hopkins University Press. Rachael owns Dementia By Day, a dementia care consulting and education company.

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