Nothing to See

Aunt Alice has the most unique perspective on things. Having lived on the same property in Missouri her entire life she's a little partial to her home and keeping her things around her.

During an extended visit I talked with her about all the places she'd ever been. She talked about how my Grandpa and Grandma had convinced her to go on these trips with them even though she didn't really want to go anywhere.

When asked how she liked visiting places like West Point Military Academy or Canada her response was always the same... "Yeah, I went there. Nothing to see, might as well have stayed home."

Esther Fractured Her Pelvis

Last week Esther fell in her front yard and fractured her pelvis. She is feisty, and with a walker is managing well enough. When we went to the hospital for the x-ray the receptionist said that she had been seen at the hospital in 2006. She was very perplexed about that. "When was I ever here?" I reminded her that she had taken a walk on a Sunday and decided to take a shortcut by the bowling alley. She was heading to Rite Aid to get some beer. Since she can't see very well, the shortcut turned out to be a bad idea, because she forgot THAT the Clackamas River was there and she fell down the embankment a little, breaking her left arm. She was 85 at that time. So she picked herself up and climbed up the embankment. A couple of young men asked her if she was okay and offered help, but she declined, of course, saying she was "Just fine.". She finished her walk, figuring that she needed the beer even more, because her arm was killing her. She managed to get into the store and buy herself a 6 pack. Then she realized she was in too much pain to walk the mile plus back home and decided to wait on the bus stop so she could catch a ride home. She had her beer in a paper bag and opened one, keeping it in the bag, and started drinking it to ease the pain. That's the last thing she remembered. She evidently passed out on the bus stop, someone there saw her and called 911. They picked her up and took her to the hospital, and you can guess the rest of the story. We were sitting in church and Jerry had his pager on. It went off and he called to see who it was. It was the police calling about the whole incident. He went over to the hospital and stayed there until they released her later that day. She did pretty well for someone of that age, with only one arm, and was able to fend for herself, with a little help from us, her neighbors, and friends from the senior center. One can only guess what the people who found her thought, since she dresses like a homeless person all the time. We were grateful to them. So now, she is on the mend again and has to use a walker for the first time in her life.. She is being a trooper.

A Red Coat

Today I picked up Esther and her friend, Leona. They are both legally blind, but Leona wears special glasses and can see better than Esther can. They still can't see much. Esther called me a couple of time the past two days to make arrangements for today-- that I was to pick them up on the corner of Dartmouth and Portland Avenue in Gladstone at 9:20 a.m., I would take them to Esther's eye appointment and then to a nursing home to visit their friend and then to Gillman Park an assisted living facility for a free lunch and tour. When I arrived at the appointed corner to pick them up they told me that they had both been standing on corners on the opposite sides of the street and waiting. They each thought the other was not coming because they waited "so long", but they just couldn't see each other. Esther said, "And I wore this red coat just so you would see me." The red coat was actually a very long, bright orange robe. I didn't want to embarrass Esther by pointing that out. So we went to the eye doctor in the orange robe. Fortunately she got warm and took it off in the waiting room. ( She had a sweater on underneath as well as a turtleneck shirt. ) She left it in the car after that. Thankfully.

IDA!!!

Last year Esther wanted to see her neighbor. The woman next door uses a walker and a motorized chair to get around. Esther got very worked up about wanting to get in and see her. Ida called me later to complain because she was just out of the shower and heard Esther calling her name over and over, very loudly. She threw something on and slowly made her way out to find that Esther had tried to push herself into her apartment, even though the chain was on the door. She had gotten herself wedged in the door with one half of her body inside the apartment and one side out. "Help, I'm stuck."

Greyhound Rider

I have always been amazed by Grandma's desire to travel. She would get greyhound bus passes and just hop on a bus and ride it to wherever it would take her. Sometimes that meant that she would arrive in town at midnight and need somebody to come pick her up at the bus station - which, of course is usually not in a particularly good part of town, and for a 16 year old driving in downtown Phoenix for the first time, it's kind of scary. I understand the desire to see the country and visit new sights, but Grandma has been legally blind for a long time and therefore unable to see the country or the sights, but I guess that means she doesn't see the scary stuff in and around the bus stations either.

Well, one summer my family was heading up the California coast to Oregon. I can't remember if we were going all the way to Portland or just Yachats, but it was a long road trip from Arizona. Well, after being on the road for a while - it was now dark, we came upon a greyhound bus. My dad jokingly said, "I wonder if Esther is on that bus, I think she is headed back to Oregon." And all of us kids started laughing and wondering if that would be possible and as we passed the bus we all pressed our faces to the window to see if we could spot her. And sure enough, sitting right next to the window with her big dark glasses was Esther. Sitting, smiling and just looking out the window. We watched her for a while, knowing that she couldn't see us. She looked happy. So, Dad just sped up and we left the bus behind.

So now, everytime I pass a greyhound bus, I try to take a peek at the passengers because you never know if Esther might be there.

The Nomad

We went on our usual trip to Missouri one year. While we were there, Lee asked us if we'd like to take the travel trailer they had kept parked under a tree for years. He decided he wanted it out of there, to get rid of it. Well the previous winter a tree limb had come down on the roof of the thing, poking holes in the roof. After that it was a whole winter and spring of snow and rain leaking inside of it. Jerry, being his usual helpful self, agreed to take it.

First we had to empty it of all of the treasures they were storing inside of it. It was stuffed to the top with all kinds of things, from old large crocks that were valuable to little pencils and things that should have been thrown away years before. We all carefully took all the stuff out and put it in a place where Esther told us to put it. Lee kept saying, "If you see anything you want, take it." If we did see anything that we wanted and set it aside, within minutes Esther would pick it up and stick it back in her pile and say, "I believe you don't want that." It took a long time to empty it and we hitched it to the van and drove all the way back home with it.

Once we got it home, the real work began. In every cupboard and drawer (and there were many) they had stashed every paper or styrofoam cup or bowl or plate they had ever used. Most were from fast food places. There were also straws and napkins. The only things that hadn't been used and washed were the napkins, they were just the extras they took in case they needed them.

Once we got those out I spent a lot of time and elbow grease scrubbing every inch of it making it clean and nice. I recovered the seats for the table. Jerry repaired the roof and made sure it didn't leak any more. We cleaned the outside. It looked pretty nice by then, for what it was. The only job left to do was repair the rotting floor supports. When you stepped on the floor it was spongy.

Jerry was in no hurry to do that one, since it was costly and time-consuming. Well, Lee and Esther came for a visit later and Lee decided to go inside the trailer to see how it was. He stepped inside and walked a ways and came back out and said, "Jerry, you let that floor go all to hell!"

Five-Finger Discount

I can't help myself, I've been thinking about this one today for some reason. There have been many occasions where we realize that Esther has helped herself to something, and been very sneaky if not downright dishonest. There was recently an occasion when Jerry was with her at the dollar store and realized she had taken something. He gave her talking to about it. We once took Esther with us to Rexburg, Idaho to visit Brandon and Traci. Several months later, when we next saw them, Traci told me that when we visited Esther kept commenting about her little cutting board. She kept talking about it, how it was the "perfect size", "justs fits in your hand so perfectly", and things like that. She couldn't find it after we left. No proof, but it did disappear in the very small place they were living in while at school in Rexburg.

When we visited my sister in Colorado Springs, Esther came to breakfast one morning with a very glittery face. It seems she decided to go poking around in everyone's dresser drawers while we were all upstairs and she got into some glitter lotion that belonged to one of my nieces. The proof was all over her face--she was shining. Jerry said, "Mom, you are looking very glittery this morning." She had no idea what he was talking about but she smiled and thanked him anyway. We all had a good chuckle, even my sister, but later she let me know that I didn't need to bring Esther the next time I came to visit. ( It is freaky to think of some old lady poking through you stuff.)