Great Escapes

Another silver alert was issued last week in Oklahoma. Seventy-one year old John Santos walked right out of his home, locked the front door and walked down the sidewalk. He was not seen or heard from for six days. His concerned family says he is friendly and can have a conversation with anyone. Mr Santos is in the early stages of Alzheimers.

The news reports that his family will now consider a monitoring device. I wonder if I should consider one for Susan as well. It seems that I watch over her like a mother hen, but once in an unexpected while Susan escapes all eyes and ears and even all logic. She gets out! In fact, she proved that again to us last week.

We have had houseguests for several weeks. Ted (Jeff’s best friend) and his lovely wife Megan arrived here about a week after the May 10th tornado (to help us rebuild). We appreciate our good friends and are thankful for this time together. Both of them are especially patient and helpful with Susan since they care for Ted’s father, who suffers the same.

Back to Susan’s great escape: One night when Ted got up to use the bathroom, he thought he heard Jeff stirring around in the kitchen. He knew it couldn’t be Susan because she was locked behind the grotto door in the same hall with him and Megan. Every time they come and go from their guest room on the east side of the house, they are careful to lock and relock the grotto door. He knew it was locked.

Since Jeff was apparently also unable to sleep, Ted called out for him, “Hey Jeff!” Jeff did not answer. Instead, (and much to Ted’s surprise) Susan appeared on the other side of the grotto door! “Susan! What are you doing out there?” he questioned, almost not believing his eyes. “Well, I am locked out and I cannot get back in!” Susan whispered. Ted’s eyes went immediately to the lock, which was now broken in half! “You broke the lock, Susan!" Indeed she had broken the lock.And after doing so, she closed the door and put the lock back in place, making it look as though it were still locked!

Susan is persistent. She is not intimidated by locked doors; oh no, not her! In fact, if she wiggles jiggles and finagles long enough, anything can happen! In Susan’s hand she held the broken piece to the lock alongside a white hinge to something totally unrelated to the grotto door; it was the size that might be off of a cabinet door. But I have searched cabinets, furniture, and entry doors for a missing hinge as if I were looking to replace a lost puzzle piece. But so far, the home of the mysterious hinge is just Susan’s secret!

This story makes us all laugh when we talk about it around here. But the scary part is not the fact that Susan had rummaged through the kitchen to her hearts delight, it is the fact that she had tried to get out the front door! It is almost impossible to fully protect her, no matter how hard we work at it. I like knowing that God has his eye on her even when we cannot.

Well, our grotto door is temporarily strung with a bicycle lock. As for Mr. Santos, he has been found alive and well. I saw him interviewed on the news last night. He said he was looking for that hamburger joint! He even stated that he will look again once things settle down. He said that he just gets confused sometimes but eventually his brain puts it together and he remembers. The Alzheimer’s Association was getting him an identification bracelet to wear. Hmmmm. Sounds like a good idea.