KayLynn Deveney – Edith and Len

www.kaylynndeveney.com

Edith and Len were married for 70 years.
This work offers some insight into the small space that became “home” for them for over one year.

The seasons are changing today. The sky is darker and more wet. The leaves are dancing around the streets. · Edith asked me today if I could imagine what it’s like to sit there all day, every day, the way she did. I thought, I am desperately trying to imagine it.

 Edith put Len into bed tonight and I was sitting and talking to him and photographing him with my back turned towards her. Edith came flying around the bed and hopped in and said, “There you are. I’ll do a few poses for you.” · Len had a bad coughing fit that bothered me. Edith told me that one night she went running down the hall looking for someone because she thought he was choking.

She looked out the window and said (…) “I don’t want to go back to thinking again. Isn’t that a lovely tree?”

Edith seemed very ill and dispirited. When I came in she was sitting with the teddy bear I gave her. She seemed to be making a new name tag for the bear. · This parting is so hard that it really makes me question whether I should have started his project. It’s getting very hard. It’s getting very hard every time I have to leave now.

I left waving goodbye to them as we all blessed each other. As I was walking down the hall, I heard Len say, “I’m glad she left.”

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