KENAI FLIGHT: We shared tips a few days ago from a reader making time with elderly family members better. In response, Larry R. Fay of Anchorage, Alaska, offered a story from his own life with wise advice to focus on the quality of life of loved ones.

Larry writes, “After reading the 13th May article about spending time with the elderly, I was reminded of one of many visits I had with my friend Vince. He was living in an Extended Care Home due to macular degeneration and mobility issues. In his late 90s, he was a retired A&P Mechanic who loved (and lived) to fly.

“Usually, Vince was lucid, but once in awhile he would slip back to when he wasn’t blind, wearing a diaper, marking time in a wheelchair, or unable to escape the bounds of earth in his beloved Taylorcraft or Cessna 180 on floats.

“On this particular day when I entered the living room where he was staying, Vince was beginning to tell his friend Burt about his flight to Kenai and back that morning. Burt immediately interrupted Vince and told him that wasn’t possible because being almost blind and confined to a wheelchair he couldn’t possibly have flown to Kenai. Vince’s bright blue eyes dimmed and his body slumped with the cold realization of his situation. I gave Burt a harsh look and motioned him outside.

“Outside, I told Burt that over the years, I had seen Vince come alive and his dull blue eyes brighten with the excitement of a child when regaling me with detailed stories of a recent flight. How dare he rob Vince of the little bit of joy left to a man who had lost his wife and had no children or grandchildren to brighten his prison cell existence. Believing at times he was mobile and able to fly gave joy to man who had long ago lost both.

“Burt’s eyes welled up and tears rolled down his cheeks. He stammered that he thought he was helping Vince by bringing him back to reality and didn’t realize at the time how hurtful and confusing that must have been to Vince. My eyes welled up realizing my anger had produced another victim of the ‘Kenai flight.’ We apologized simultaneously and went back inside, hoping our friend would relive the morning’s flight.”