Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The sun is out, my back is a little better and I have a whole day with no plans other than a visit to the Soldiers Home. I have brought my official plastic project notebook and camera, but I really don’t feel like "working." I just feel like visiting.
As it turns out, it’s a good Mike day. And I kind of needed one of those.
We were heading over to the snack bar (for one thing, I was hungry, and for another, I like to load him up with calories whenever I can). Mike told me he didn’t go to Bingo last night, which was run by an outside group.
"They have a caller who sounds like a prison warden," he said. "Cell Block B-11!"
I laughed so hard, it made my back hurt.
We had lunch (if you call Mike’s 8,000-calorie cinnamon bun with melted butter "lunch," which he did), then went down to the pond.
It’s starting to look like spring. Mike was wearing sunglasses along with his stocking hat, scarf and mittens. Fish were jumping. The fountain was babbling. And you could just sense the eagles were going to come back any day. We both just kind of soaked it in.
"Isn’t it amazing how quiet it is down here?" I asked Mike.
"That’s why I like it so much," he said.
I had had some iced tea on the way there, and some more at lunch. I might have been babbling a bit myself.
"Until I start yakking and spoil it all, right?"
We soaked up and caught up and came back to the Activities Center. Gully saw me and told me she’d been praying for me.
"Why?" I asked, looking a gift prayer right in the mouth. "Oh! My back?"
She smiled and hugged me, and said Mike had told everyone about it.
Before long Mike noticed I was "oof-ing" every time I sat down or stood up.
"Easy, girl," said Mike, a former medic. I would have neighed, but it would have hurt. "You go home and lie down right now."
It’s the first time anyone’s ever asked me to leave the Soldiers Home. But it made me happy. Mike was looking out for me.
The sun is out, my back is a little better and I have a whole day with no plans other than a visit to the Soldiers Home. I have brought my official plastic project notebook and camera, but I really don’t feel like "working." I just feel like visiting.
As it turns out, it’s a good Mike day. And I kind of needed one of those.
We were heading over to the snack bar (for one thing, I was hungry, and for another, I like to load him up with calories whenever I can). Mike told me he didn’t go to Bingo last night, which was run by an outside group.
"They have a caller who sounds like a prison warden," he said. "Cell Block B-11!"
I laughed so hard, it made my back hurt.
We had lunch (if you call Mike’s 8,000-calorie cinnamon bun with melted butter "lunch," which he did), then went down to the pond.
It’s starting to look like spring. Mike was wearing sunglasses along with his stocking hat, scarf and mittens. Fish were jumping. The fountain was babbling. And you could just sense the eagles were going to come back any day. We both just kind of soaked it in.
"Isn’t it amazing how quiet it is down here?" I asked Mike.
"That’s why I like it so much," he said.
I had had some iced tea on the way there, and some more at lunch. I might have been babbling a bit myself.
"Until I start yakking and spoil it all, right?"
We soaked up and caught up and came back to the Activities Center. Gully saw me and told me she’d been praying for me.
"Why?" I asked, looking a gift prayer right in the mouth. "Oh! My back?"
She smiled and hugged me, and said Mike had told everyone about it.
Before long Mike noticed I was "oof-ing" every time I sat down or stood up.
"Easy, girl," said Mike, a former medic. I would have neighed, but it would have hurt. "You go home and lie down right now."
It’s the first time anyone’s ever asked me to leave the Soldiers Home. But it made me happy. Mike was looking out for me.
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