Institutionalized: 1940

The Unexpected Letter

Summer is slowly coming to an end as the leaves on the trees begin to change colour. It has been weeks since the grand opening of Greg's gallery. He is still a bit shocked about how many fans he still has. He was amazed to see that his fans still want to meet him even after leaving the sport to help with the war effort. He constantly tells me how he could not believe how many people wanted to celebrate his life in auto racing. My response to this is that fans never forget who they admire. I reminded him of what James told him about James admiring him as a child and the fifteen minutes meet and greet James had with Greg never left James. That moment will always be within James' mind.

Once he heard that explanation, he understood. It was a very simple explanation, but that is what he understands. He cannot comprehend complex explanations about things or experiences because of the injury to his brain he sustained during the war.

A few days later, Greg went to check the mail as usual. When he returned from the mailbox, he handed a letter to me that was addressed to me. I wonder who this could be from I thought because there was no return address anywhere on the envalope. I was curious, but at the same time I wanted privacy. I told Greg that I was going to read the letter or whatever it could be in our room. Greg said all right then I walked to our bedroom and closed the door.

Once the door was shut, I sat on the chair in the room. I opened the envalope carefully not to tear the paper inside.

Once it was opened, I lifted the folded piece of paper out of the envelope. I carefully unfolded the piece of paper because I was a bit nervous about what the letter was about and more importantly who it was from beside I did not want to tear it.

Once I unfolded the letter, I read it. The letter was from someone that I thought I would never hear from. The letter was from Saraphina the young woman I shared a room with at that horrible institution we were in during the war. That made me think how did she get my address after so many years.

In the letter, she told me that she was in the institution until it closed a few years ago. She continued to tell me that once it closed she was put on the street. She was also told that no one would want her. She continued her story of becoming a beggar on the street until a kind woman brought her to a better place for those who were once institutionalized. The home gives freedom to the physically and mentally challenged adults who otherwise cannot care for themselves. She continued to describe this place by telling me that this place provides beds and hot meals. It also allows residents to come and go as they please. The place also arranges outings to the grocery store and library for the residents to choose the food they want for meals. These outings help the residents to slowly get integrated back into the community with little to no discrimination by the general public.

At this point, I had to imediately stop reading and put the letter down because I began to cry. It was so heart breaking what Saraphina went through. I could not imagine my life so tough. I guess if I never met Greg or if my mum was not so positive about my challenges then I would have had similar difficulties that Saraphina faced.

Just at that moment, the bedroom door opebs. It was Greg standing in the doorway. He asked me why I was crying. I told him that it was because the letter I was reading was very sad and heart breaking. Just then Greg walked over to me, he gave me a hug to try to comfort me. I stopped crying and felt much better after Greg hugged me.

He asked if it was all right if he asked who the letter was from. I looked at him with my red tear filled eyes. I told him that the letter was from Saraphina. He gave me a look of confusion and not recognizing the name. I simply explained to him that Saraphina was the young woman who I shared a room with in the institution we were in, in England during the war.

Once I gave him that simple explanation, he acknowledged that now he knew who I meant. With his memory loss, names from the past that he does not hear all the time get all jumbled up in his mind and confuses him, but a simple explanation of who the person is helps him unscamble the jumbled memories.