Monday, January 31, 2011
I got stuck in the slow line at the grocery store today, which made me just late enough for Trivia that I disrupted the whole works while I bumbled to find a seat by Mike. That was unnerving enough, but then as soon as I sat down, Bob the Trivia emcee said, “She’s probably a skeleton expert. Let’s ask her.”
Excuse me, but … huh?
Anyway, the question was, “Which of the following bones is not located in the pelvic area?” I was too flustered to retain any of the choices, but Mike whispered, “scapula” (or maybe it was “spatula”), so that was my answer. And it was right. Thank you; let’s move on now, please, and point the spotlight elsewhere.
Mike said he had lots of news, but you can’t really chat during Trivia. So we Trivia-ed. He got a lot of questions right. I got another obscure one right, and Bob accused me of sneaking in and reading the cards beforehand. Which I did not do, for the record.
After the inquisition, when we could chat, Mike told me we had to officially select our entrees for the Valentines dinner. As you might recall, we had suggested prime rib and/or chicken cordon bleu. Apparently we were delusional. The good news: There were three choices: roast pork, halibut or roast beef. The bad news: It would be hard for me to think of three entrees I would rather not eat. Mike and I laughed—who’s ever heard of an institution on a budget that doesn’t serve chicken? But the side dishes look tasty and, of course, the food is not the reason for the evenin’.
The only hitch now: The staff member who was in charge of having Mike’s suit dry-cleaned no longer works at the Home. But Mike said a posse of other staffers got right on the job, arranging a suit drop-off/pick-up so he’ll have some nice duds to go with his roast pork.
We went to Mike’s room, where big change was afoot: His roommate’s side was empty.
“Did you get your single room that fast?” I gasped, knowing that when Mike squeaks, his wheels tend to get greased.
“That’s what I thought at first,” he said. But it turns out his roommate’s wife moved in to the Home, so the couple moved together to a room of their own. Mike will have another roommate before that empty bed gets cold.
Mike reported on his weekend with his family. He is so proud of his son and granddaughter, and with good reason: They are very bright chips off the old block, and they spent the whole weekend with him.
As we got to my car (still loaded with half of the groceries; I had stopped at home briefly just to put away the perishables), I flashed back to my long wait in the grocery line. The checkout lady asked what I had planned for the rest of the day—not that there would be much left of it by the time we finished—and I had told her I was headed for the Soldiers Home. She seemed very interested, asking how many residents there were, how many had regular visits from family and how their spirits and health were.
“I hate to think that people who served our country are shuffled off someplace where nobody cares about them,” she said.
“Me, too,” I said. But that’s really not the case at the Soldiers Home. Here, from Bob the Trivia volunteer to the staffers helping Mike with his suit, and helping his roommate bunk with his wife, there’s a lot of caring going on.
I got stuck in the slow line at the grocery store today, which made me just late enough for Trivia that I disrupted the whole works while I bumbled to find a seat by Mike. That was unnerving enough, but then as soon as I sat down, Bob the Trivia emcee said, “She’s probably a skeleton expert. Let’s ask her.”
Excuse me, but … huh?
Anyway, the question was, “Which of the following bones is not located in the pelvic area?” I was too flustered to retain any of the choices, but Mike whispered, “scapula” (or maybe it was “spatula”), so that was my answer. And it was right. Thank you; let’s move on now, please, and point the spotlight elsewhere.
Mike said he had lots of news, but you can’t really chat during Trivia. So we Trivia-ed. He got a lot of questions right. I got another obscure one right, and Bob accused me of sneaking in and reading the cards beforehand. Which I did not do, for the record.
After the inquisition, when we could chat, Mike told me we had to officially select our entrees for the Valentines dinner. As you might recall, we had suggested prime rib and/or chicken cordon bleu. Apparently we were delusional. The good news: There were three choices: roast pork, halibut or roast beef. The bad news: It would be hard for me to think of three entrees I would rather not eat. Mike and I laughed—who’s ever heard of an institution on a budget that doesn’t serve chicken? But the side dishes look tasty and, of course, the food is not the reason for the evenin’.
The only hitch now: The staff member who was in charge of having Mike’s suit dry-cleaned no longer works at the Home. But Mike said a posse of other staffers got right on the job, arranging a suit drop-off/pick-up so he’ll have some nice duds to go with his roast pork.
We went to Mike’s room, where big change was afoot: His roommate’s side was empty.
“Did you get your single room that fast?” I gasped, knowing that when Mike squeaks, his wheels tend to get greased.
“That’s what I thought at first,” he said. But it turns out his roommate’s wife moved in to the Home, so the couple moved together to a room of their own. Mike will have another roommate before that empty bed gets cold.
Mike reported on his weekend with his family. He is so proud of his son and granddaughter, and with good reason: They are very bright chips off the old block, and they spent the whole weekend with him.
As we got to my car (still loaded with half of the groceries; I had stopped at home briefly just to put away the perishables), I flashed back to my long wait in the grocery line. The checkout lady asked what I had planned for the rest of the day—not that there would be much left of it by the time we finished—and I had told her I was headed for the Soldiers Home. She seemed very interested, asking how many residents there were, how many had regular visits from family and how their spirits and health were.
“I hate to think that people who served our country are shuffled off someplace where nobody cares about them,” she said.
“Me, too,” I said. But that’s really not the case at the Soldiers Home. Here, from Bob the Trivia volunteer to the staffers helping Mike with his suit, and helping his roommate bunk with his wife, there’s a lot of caring going on.
RSS Feed