She greets me every Sunday, sometimes twice, because she forgets.
She kisses my cheek, holds my face between her cold hands, hugs me,
and says some of the few words she can still string together. "I love you."
Today, for our second greeting, she caught my eye across the room, came toward me and said, "Dawn."
A kiss, two hands, an embrace. I love you.
She called me by name.
I was unaware this had become no small thing.
~ ~ ~
But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
Isaiah 43:1