Here's a memory that came back to me this morning.
I have had my share of time spent in old-age homes and hospitals. I have seen or heard some of the strangest things ever in my lifetime. Enough of those things to make me want to avoid having to live in one myself.
For instance in one home there was a man who thought he was still a sergeant and it was still World War Two. He would march up and down the halls barking orders to soldiers who were not there. A woman there would get up every morning, get dressed, pick up her purse and go to the lobby and sit there waiting for the bus to come by. There was no bus. Every few minutes she would turn to whomever was sitting nearby and ask, "where's the babies, is anyone watching the babies?" Another woman was in the Alzheimer's unit behind locked doors and her husband came by every day to sing old love songs to her. She didn't know who he was, but she enjoyed the songs and the ride in a wheelchair.
In another home, there was a woman who never stopped talking and or screaming. She would go from Bible quotes to screaming obscenities of the foulest order to screaming Jesus help me I am a prisoner and oddly, she thought she was on a runaway train and screamed about how she hoped someone could stop the train. There was also a woman there that was incontinent and she refused to wear a diaper style undergarment. She would sit in the lobby watching TV and fill the chair with urine. While I will not go into detail, I found out that out the hard way, or should I say in a very soggy way.
Joyce keeps telling me that we don't get to choose how our lives end, sad but true. This reminds me of a story I heard once. A man said he wanted to die like his grandfather did, in his sleep, unlike the rest of the people in the car screaming as the car ran off the cliff.
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.
For instance in one home there was a man who thought he was still a sergeant and it was still World War Two. He would march up and down the halls barking orders to soldiers who were not there. A woman there would get up every morning, get dressed, pick up her purse and go to the lobby and sit there waiting for the bus to come by. There was no bus. Every few minutes she would turn to whomever was sitting nearby and ask, "where's the babies, is anyone watching the babies?" Another woman was in the Alzheimer's unit behind locked doors and her husband came by every day to sing old love songs to her. She didn't know who he was, but she enjoyed the songs and the ride in a wheelchair.
In another home, there was a woman who never stopped talking and or screaming. She would go from Bible quotes to screaming obscenities of the foulest order to screaming Jesus help me I am a prisoner and oddly, she thought she was on a runaway train and screamed about how she hoped someone could stop the train. There was also a woman there that was incontinent and she refused to wear a diaper style undergarment. She would sit in the lobby watching TV and fill the chair with urine. While I will not go into detail, I found out that out the hard way, or should I say in a very soggy way.
Joyce keeps telling me that we don't get to choose how our lives end, sad but true. This reminds me of a story I heard once. A man said he wanted to die like his grandfather did, in his sleep, unlike the rest of the people in the car screaming as the car ran off the cliff.
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.
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