flashback

okay, i hope i'm not politically incorrect or offensive in this post. i don't mean to be. many years ago (back in 96?) i worked with mentally handicapped adults. i was a life skills trainer. they lived in apartments with roommates and people like me would spend a few hours in the morning and evening and all weekend with them. we'd take them shopping, help them set goals, teach them some life skills, help them make dinner, remind them to bathe, give them their meds, that sort of thing. on weekends we'd take them on field trips. it was a pretty fun job with some of the usual stresses. i only did it for 6 months. one of my clients (as they were called) was actually the daughter of none other than hugh nibley. yes, it is true. she was very sweet. she would ask me questions about abraham - it took me a while to catch on to the pun. she was always writing notes and counting her coins.

anyway, she's not my story. another woman... oh wait, never mind. i just had a realization. okay, i'll tell you what i was thinking anyway. this other woman was quite a character. her name was kathy. she had a pretty annoying voice, and needed to be reminded to shave. other than that she seemed pretty normal. well, relatively. anyway, i've been attending the slc temple now for a few years and recently there's been one volunteer that has reminded me of kathy. she had her "look." for a long time i even questioned myself whether it was her. i think she was capable of working at the temple at least as a greeter - i don't know whether or not she was lds - but it's been a long time. well tonight, i got a close up opportunity with this woman. she was doing more than greeting, so i tried to test her by asking a conversational question but her response was too simple to be of much evidence. she did seem to stare intently the way kathy did, but with a mellower style. anyway, i was having a moment of happiness thinking that kathy had finally found a good balance of meds to help her get to this state of functioning, serving in such a manner. everything about her seemed calm and in control. i was very happy - it was a bright spot in my day. so i was going to blog about it. but, as you noticed, while blogging i had a realization. the woman working at the temple was not named kathy. and i'm nearly positive the lady i worked with years ago was kathy. wait, no, maybe her roommate was named kathy! oh dear, who knows. point is, i had a nice time in the temple and a nice time remembering my clients. even if i can't remember her name perfectly. and i like to think that they are all well and making progress in their lives.