WHAT'S FOR DINNER

It was a really beautiful day when things started going wrong. One of the aides had called in sick so I was on my own. Now you know, gentle reader, I can handle anything going through my home. Like Dr. Pitkin always said “You just wing it and your fine”! We were supposed to have waffles for breakfast but the waffle machine broke and from then on it was downhill! I offered French toast but Harold didn’t want French toast so I said pancakes. Pete didn’t want any pancakes and Pat said she would like an omelet. I just kept smiling and talking so they wouldn’t notice it was taking a long time for the food to appear. I was doing great until Barry started pounding on his table in his room. Barry had Huntington’s disease and always stayed in his room. I went in and told him breakfast was coming and just be patient. He smiled and said he would wait. You just felt like giving him a big hug—so I did. I finally got everyone what they wanted for breakfast and they were happy. Harold thought he would go for a short walk and I reminded him not to go past the end of the driveway. Them Pat said she wanted a shower. I asked if she could wait because I didn’t want to try to do that without another person there. She was not too happy because her husband was coming to visit. I told her we would wash her up and she would be beautiful. She liked that. Selma decided she wanted to watch something different on TV so now we have a small disagreement going. Sam said he wanted the TV left where it was. I reminded him he had a TV in his room but he said he didn’t want to watch TV alone. I said Ok I will take Selma in your room and she can watch her program. He thought that was just great and he would go and watch with her! I tell you dear reader; they were like a bunch of little kids. Then I noticed Harold wasn’t back from his walk. I hurried outdoors and got on the golf cart to go to the end of the driveway. I couldn’t see Harold and I got a terrible feeling. I looked down the road and ..no Harold. I wnet back to the house and parked the gof cart—I was going to call 911 and here comes Harold out oif the garage! He said he found a nice place to sit out there and it was nice and quiet. Then he heard me and figured he better let me know where he was!
We made it thru lunch fine and most of them went to take a nap. I received a call from the county and they were looking for a room. You know the answer to that one. I told Pat she was going to have a roommate for a few days and she was ok with that. All the people knew me and they always shared things. It was such a great feeling to be able to help other people. I must say my people were never selfish when it came to having another person move in.
Carol, from the county, came with a lady named Mary. It seems Mary’s husband had died and the family didn’t want her to be alone. Mary was very nice, a little forgetful and she used a walker. Everyone spoke to her and told her they were happy to have her with us.
Now we have a problem because I was so busy getting the room ready I forgot about dinner. I opened the freezer door and thought “Thank Heavens I bought the frozen lasagna last week”! I turned the oven on to preheat and went and checked. Everyone wanted lasagna so I figured we were golden. I should have known better, dear reader, but it had been a long day.
Pat’s husband, Kenny had arrived and he loved to talk. I mean he lived to talk. He was a very nice man but you know the type—you just couldn’t quite him down. He knew we were going to have lasagna and hinted he really liked it and before you knew it I told him to stay for dinner. Of course he was really happy. I got the table set and all the medicine done and checked the time. We had about five minutes so I told everyone they could go to the table. They all did and took their medicine. I grabbed the pot holders and opened the oven door to take the lasagna out and there was nothing there!! I really had to blink twice, dear reader, because I couldn’t figure out where the lasagna was. I turned around and looked and it was still on the counter—I never put it in the oven. I started laughing because it was funny but I also realized I had a bunch of hungry people here waiting to eat!!!After I explained what happened they laughed also. I said the fastest thing I could do was make pancakes or order a pizza. We ended up with pancakes for dinner and believe it or not they were all happy. Pat’s husband stayed for the pancakes and said when he left to let him know when we were having the lasagna he would be back!!!
I was really glad when I got everyone settled for the night, dear reader. I was really tired. I had just set down for my usual cup of coffee and Barry called me. I went to see what was going on and he wanted to know if he could have pancakes for breakfast because they sure tasted good!! I told him he could but the rest of the crew was having their regular breakfast. He said ok to that and was sleeping in five minutes. Barry was really special and we all spoiled him.
That was a busy day at my home but it was a great feeling to know everyone was well and happy and it looked like it was going to be a good night. The only comment I made to the aide who called in sick was “I have rules here you know. If you want to be sick you ask and I will let you know if we have time for that”. I sure never had time to be sick!!!
This was about the time we lost Steve. That is my next one…..
Love, Red