Been visiting with my father in the center for people with Alzheimer's, where he must stay. He doesn't always know me, but he's nicer than he's ever been to me now.

I can tell he's scared. It's noisy there all day and into the night. Doors always open, lights always on. How can you rest?

He can barely walk. He's so old looking. Frail. Teeth missing. Blotches and loose skin. Slobbering. Drooling.

They get them up very early for breakfast, it's about 5AM and there doesn't seem to be any set visiting hours, so I sit in his dim lit room and watch him sleep. He looks like Nosferatu, or the old grandfather in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" he looks scary, but I know the scary part is, that we all are aging and must die... That I am.

It's depressing there.

It smells of old sick death.

As I drive away, it begins to snow. On the dark farm road leaving the Home, I can smell that death on me.