Meeting "POPS"
I never liked nursing homes much. Just the thought of them made my skin crawl. I would always think of unhappy people recovering from something and just being abandoned by their families for whatever reason. I used to visit the one when I lived closer to one when I was a teenager. It made me so sad to see people just sitting in wheelchairs looking out of the windows and waving sometimes as we walked by.
Today I had to visit my mom in one that they now call skilled nursing facilities, a fancier name for the same thing I used to call nursing homes back in the day. She should be out soon and neither of us can wait for that day to finally come. Today though, we met an older man out on the "patio" their version of a patio. Their patio consisted of a small backyard sort of and some tables and a couple of umbrellas over the tables and a whole lot of bees on the other side by the flowers and ivy. You are either swatting flies or running from bees. (not literally running from them but you get the idea) So, after my mom got enough of the tasteless food they served for lunch, yep, she says it has no taste to it even when they sprinkle with it a dash of pepper and a smaller dash of salt. We went to the patio and there is where we met Pops sitting at a table under one of the umbrellas eating his lunch. He asked if we had lunch already and I told him that we did and so my son got a soda from the machine they have out there in the opposite corner of the table where Pops was sitting. So, Pops said he had to eat slowly cause he lost most of his teeth and then he laughed a toothless grin and we laughed too. In between tiny bites of food Pops said that he was 92 years old and was the second born of 10 kids in his family. He told us he had about 30 grand nieces and nephews but he lost count of the nieces and nephews because he had so many. He said that he came to California back in 1948 from Little Rock, Arkansas. He moved to Oakland, CA when he first got here with his wife and he worked on the railroad. He told us about all the places he has lived and the things that he has saw in his long life as he put it. He said he used to do a lot of things and lived through a lot of things too. He told us how he met Martin Luther King, and how he wants to meet the president when he gets out of there. Then he laughed again. He said that he had been there for a year and was hoping that he would be out by Christmas if everything went well. He talked and ate and ate and talked and swatted flies from his food as he talked and we swatted flies too and watched the birds which another resident, Lily had put out some bread crumbs for.
Pops talked to us for a long time until he finished his lunch and then said that he was going to go back to his room and watch a little tv before they served dinner. He shook our hands and asked if we would be back tomorrow and we said yeah and he said he would be there too and to come outside and say hello to him. We promised that we would and off he went rolling right along in his wheelchair stopping to talk to his roommate along the way.
Nursing homes are still not on my most likable places to go but today was a good day and I think that even when my mom is long gone from this one we will come back and visit Pops.
Today I had to visit my mom in one that they now call skilled nursing facilities, a fancier name for the same thing I used to call nursing homes back in the day. She should be out soon and neither of us can wait for that day to finally come. Today though, we met an older man out on the "patio" their version of a patio. Their patio consisted of a small backyard sort of and some tables and a couple of umbrellas over the tables and a whole lot of bees on the other side by the flowers and ivy. You are either swatting flies or running from bees. (not literally running from them but you get the idea) So, after my mom got enough of the tasteless food they served for lunch, yep, she says it has no taste to it even when they sprinkle with it a dash of pepper and a smaller dash of salt. We went to the patio and there is where we met Pops sitting at a table under one of the umbrellas eating his lunch. He asked if we had lunch already and I told him that we did and so my son got a soda from the machine they have out there in the opposite corner of the table where Pops was sitting. So, Pops said he had to eat slowly cause he lost most of his teeth and then he laughed a toothless grin and we laughed too. In between tiny bites of food Pops said that he was 92 years old and was the second born of 10 kids in his family. He told us he had about 30 grand nieces and nephews but he lost count of the nieces and nephews because he had so many. He said that he came to California back in 1948 from Little Rock, Arkansas. He moved to Oakland, CA when he first got here with his wife and he worked on the railroad. He told us about all the places he has lived and the things that he has saw in his long life as he put it. He said he used to do a lot of things and lived through a lot of things too. He told us how he met Martin Luther King, and how he wants to meet the president when he gets out of there. Then he laughed again. He said that he had been there for a year and was hoping that he would be out by Christmas if everything went well. He talked and ate and ate and talked and swatted flies from his food as he talked and we swatted flies too and watched the birds which another resident, Lily had put out some bread crumbs for.
Pops talked to us for a long time until he finished his lunch and then said that he was going to go back to his room and watch a little tv before they served dinner. He shook our hands and asked if we would be back tomorrow and we said yeah and he said he would be there too and to come outside and say hello to him. We promised that we would and off he went rolling right along in his wheelchair stopping to talk to his roommate along the way.
Nursing homes are still not on my most likable places to go but today was a good day and I think that even when my mom is long gone from this one we will come back and visit Pops.
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