A gust of frigid wind startles me as the scraggly-bearded stranger opens the passenger door and demands we drive him home. We’re stopped at a red light. Mom tells me to move to the backseat and I'm filled with dread. Wordlessly she drives, arriving at a building a few streets away. He denies that’s where he lives, but eventually leaves our car. Afterward, she explains that she'd seen an address written on his shirt and recognized him as a wandering person with dementia. Decades later, I sometimes think of him as I guide lost patients back to their hospital rooms.
Laura Schep is a mother, physician, and writer living in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and Business Insider.