They Found Me Again!

When I worked at the "Western Sizzler" a group of older people from  an assisted living facility came in to eat once a month and I usually always waited on  them. Most were Alzheimer's patients and a few were married couples living out the last of their days together. I did a blog about them several years ago, I believe it was called  "The Girls From the Home."  They'd all come in from  the van clattering around on their walkers with  tennis balls attached to the front legs.  It took them a good ten minutes just to sit down and stack all  the walkers out of the way.

I was at work the other morning when a reservation  was called in for a party of thirteen, including three wheelchairs.

Guess who slowly came shuffling in the door? My friends from "The Home." There were some new faces and a few I recognized from my last restaurant. One ole Dapper Dan I remember from my last restaurant was with them. He used to shuffle in on his own by  himself but I guess his family had moved him into assisted living so he was with the group  shuffling their way to the table we had set up for them. The care giver was the same one I knew and we hugged each other and I told her it was great to see her and her little flock again.

The last woman to come in was in a wheelchair and looked up at me and asked if I was Cindy's sister? I told her I was and she said "I am in love with your sister." I told her that made two of us and found out she attended church with my sister before she had her stroke. She was all dolled up...in a perfectly matching and accessorized outfit and cute as a button.

It took seemingly forever to seat  them all, the care giver telling every one where to sit. The ole Dapper Dan I remembered from my former place of work was told to sit by a tiny  little man in a "Members Only" jacket and a baseball cap. I greeted them all cheerfully and said to the one man I knew "Hey Don, remember me from "Western Sizzler?" (I used the real name of the restaurant)

The ole codger seemed to remember me and smiled when the old dude next  to him in the ball cap said brightly "I'll bet you  a million bucks he don't remember your name, just go ahead and ask him! I'll bet ya!"

I blew it off saying it had been over three years and I doubted he did but it was good to see him again!

Jeez...if my Diddy had survived West Nile he would most probably be attending this luncheon with these people. I silently thanked God for taking my Diddy when He did.

It was a pleasure to wait on these people and hopefully give them all a nice lunch outside of the walls that now confine them as they wait for the last chapter of their lives to play out.

It's parties like this that I enjoy the most. It won't be the best or biggest tip but it makes me feel good to make some of them laugh and smile and make a few of them feel okay for not smiling.

I told the care giver now that she knew where I worked I hoped they would come visit me again.

My brother in law died from Alzheimer's in his early fifties... in hindsight, he was lucky too. We used to call it "Going Crazy" or being "Demented" but in fact , Alzheimer's is both and painfully hard for family to witness, watch and go through.

It makes me think about my life.

I think about how hard the past few years have been for us and then I think about how hard the minutes, hours and days must be for people with Alzheimer's and their own families. If they are healthy they can live for years with the horrible disease as it takes their minds and turn them into toddlers needing constant care and supervision while the people who love them have no choice but to suffer a slow painful witness to their demise. I have several friends who have and I applaud them for doing it.

It's takes tremendous courage to watch  the person you  always admired the most dwindle away amid their muddled confused world of  dementia and still keep a smile on your face when you are with them.

Those are the people I admire. Those are the ones who have bigger battles and fought them with all their might. Those are the people who have lost the most. I lost my parents...but I was lucky enough to lose MY Parents. Those people end up losing someone who doesn't even know who they are or sometimes how they are related.

I was spared this travesty and am eternally grateful.

We all have to die (unless you ask Shirley MacClaine) but it is so much easier for your loved ones  to take when you die as yourself.

I hope I am lucky enough to do that.

Til next  time...COTTON