IRVING, Texas — Every morning, gallons of black tea are made in the kitchen at The Villages On Macarthur. At this assisted living center in Irving, people drink cups of it every day.
When everything changes including your health, your home and your appetite, there is a calmness to soothing black tea.
“There is a nostalgic factor to it,” said Terri Mertz. She used to visit Barry Mertz at lunch and sit beside him, drinking her tea, wondering if he remembered her.
After 38 years of marriage, Barry started losing his memory to dementia, likely Alzheimer’s disease.
“I think he knows who I am. I don’t know that he knows who I am, but I think he does. I like to think he does. I tell myself that he does,” Terri said before Barry died.
Those visits weren't easy for her. So after her daily visits, Terri worked on healing herself through art.
Since Barry left home to the assisted living center, she found a way to include him in her art. It all goes back to the gallons of soothing black tea made every day.
She used the tea bag as a backdrop for her canvas.
“You have to be careful otherwise it gets crinkled.”
The thin tea bag is fragile and unpredictable — like Barry’s good and bad days.
“It’s not going to be perfect, but that’s part of the appeal,” she said. Terri vowed 'in sickness and in health.'
“It creates a triangle bond between me and him and my artwork," she said.
Terri faced the reality of dementia. Barry passed away.
“The last message that he got was, 'We’re here and we love you' and I leaned over and I said the Lord’s prayer right in his ear and that was it. He was gone,” she said filled with emotion.
Now with every canvas, Terri is reminded that Barry’s fight against Alzheimer’s made her stronger. With every piece of him in every piece of art, she still holds sweet memories of the man she fell in love with.