Asparagus for breakfast

When it comes to folks with Alzheimer's, the phrase, "once a man, twice a child" is so true.

Mornings, especially, can be a logistical nightmare with the "I don't wanna's." I don't wanna wear that. I don't wanna brush my teeth. I don't wanna take a shower. And my personal favorite: I don't wanna eat that.

When I was growing up, if you were insane enough to say to either of my parents that you didn't want to eat something, well, Hellooooo, Saint Peter. At minimum, you were sent to your room to starve until morning.

You can't do that with old folks, particularly when dementia is involved. Elder abuse, laws, you know.

Since I didn't cook we usually went out for breakfast. Martin's order was always the same. You could set your clock to it. Hash browns, sausage, buttered wheat toast, two eggs over easy and coffee with real milk. 

And then dementia set in and he was ordering fried chicken, mashed potatoes, prime rib and hot fudge sundaes and Black Forest cake for breakfast. The waitress knew the deal and would counter with, "You know what I had for breakfast?"

"What?" Martin would ask.

"The hash browns, sausage, buttered wheat toast, two eggs over easy and coffee with real milk."

She'd smile at him. He'd smile back. And now with him on the hook, she'd reel him in with, "Sounds good, huh? Wanna try it?"

And he'd gobble, gobble, gobble, wiping up the last of the eggs with his wheat toast.

Then one day he surprised us all when he announced, "I don't wanna eat that." He said it again. And again. And again. A little louder each time.

Instead, he said, he wanted asparagus.

"Oh, an omelette with asparagus!" she said.

"No. Asparagus."

"Just asparagus?"

"No. Asparagus sauteed with a little butter and salt and pepper," he insisted.

His wife, Mrs. Short-stack-of-plain-pancakes-with-a-side-of-bacon-and-a-diet-Pepsi, said, "No one eats asparagus for breakfast."

That morning we had asparagus for breakfast and you know, it wasn't half bad. We had it the next day, too, for a week.  

Slowly, I came to the realization that nowhere it is written that you're supposed to have pancakes, donuts or juice for breakfast and yet, we humans drag ourselves to the table with boxes of cereal, strips of bacon and eggs boiled, fried, scrambled and omeletted. 

Before long, I was whipping up non-traditional breakfasts of broccoli, broccolini, roasted butternut squash, spaghetti squash and of course, asparagus. So good for you and so easy to make. He loved them. I still do. 

Some days nothing beats the good, healthy stuff with a side of wonderful memories for breakfast.