You see that women over there who is seamlessly laughing at nothing, or the one who is trying to talk to the kids but can't seem to put the words together. You stare and try to figure out what is wrong and maybe even try to avoid them so that they don't talk to you. Well let me tell you, they are humans too and they thrive on social interaction with the strangers in the store or the kids passing by on the street. Those two people you see are suffering from Alzheimer's, yeah, the memory disease.

They are slowly losing their ability to even form simple sentences, which is why they struggle to say the right word and it just seems gibberish. They are also slowly having a plague cover their brain, which is why they are laughing at what seems to be nothing. They think nonsense can be funny and that is the beautiful thing, they are still enjoying life to the fullest. They are there living their life through this horrible disease and are still finding joy in things my grandmother is one of those people who is laughing at nothing and trying to talk gibberish to the kids on the street. And these little things make her life happy again. She loves talking to the people she sees in the store, telling them she is cold or showing them her veiny hands. But people don’t know how to react to her, some get it and smile and talk to her but there are others. These others don’t know what to do, they have no idea why she is acting the way that she is and they label her as weird or crazy. These people break my heart because I see the joy leave her eyes as they disregard her and walk away. I understand that this woman you don’t know is trying to talk to you, but she doesn’t know that you think she is weird, she has the mind of a child. To her everyone is her friend and everyone is there to talk to her. Her favorite thing in the world is to go to the store and see all the people, mostly the kids. I think it reminds her deep down that she is a mom and grandma and she remembers for that second that she has kids and has taken care of little kids.

But I beg you, those of you who don’t know how to react please interact with these people, they thrive on it. Yes, it is a stranger talking to you but they’re harmless, they don’t know how they are coming off. Please smile and laugh with them, I promise you that it will make their life in that moment. Nothing makes my heart as happy as it is when my grandma is smiling and laughing, it makes me remember all the times she made me smile and laugh. So again, please give these people love, they deserve it more than any of us. Remember this next time someone talks gibberish to you or seems to laugh at nothing, those little moments make their heart full of joy.