Best Mates......

Really hot day here today...

I have my Dad with us still. He lives in the North Island and it is always so nice to have him visit us. As it happens his best mate K who also lives up in the North Is is here visiting his son also, so today we picked him up and went for a walk around the Botanical Gardens .

This sounds like a nice little outing and it was...but it was tinged with sadness for Dad and I , as K has dementia now and it was quite hard to see such a lovely man struggle every now and then with his memory and try to put things together in his mind...he and Dad have been best mates for over 50 years, and our families have grown up together and to me K has been like an Uncle. I felt so sorry for K, and also for my Dad (in the white shirt) who is struggling to know what to do to help .
We did have a really nice time walking around the gardens, both Dad and K are great walkers and love the outdoors, we managed a couple of conversations about the old days, it seems the more recent memories are what K struggles with actually.
It makes me think that we all have to make the most of the lives we have, and to treasure the people we have around us.