GOODBYE, OWEN!

BEFORE THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA contingent left, I fashioned a sign for Owen to hold up when he was telling a joke......sort of a rudimentary applause meter so that folks would know when to laugh when he was delivering his four year old witticisms. I don't know if it'll ever be used but he humored me enough to take it on home with him.

Packed up and ready to leave, down the hall they trudged, 

waited at the elevator,

down the road to their car,

G'bye, love. Come again soon!

"The prospect of going home is very appealing."David Ginola

REWIND TO DECEMBER 26

THERE WAS NO LET-DOWN feeling the day after Christmas, for that was the day our eldest and his family drove four hundred miles from Northern California to see us. Four year old Owen, always a charmer, has blossomed into full-blown boyhood, coming up with his own jokes and constantly building creations in his mind's eye. 

I asked his Dad if he thought Owen might grow up to be an inventor and Chris' response was, "Either that or terribly disappointed."

Because the two guestrooms here at the Manor had been booked previous to my request, our family needed to stay in our room which was perfectly fine with us, but let me explain our dormitory arrangement. Frances slept on our sofa. To minimize the footprint 

they leave behind, they come bearing their own sheets, pillows and towels. 

Owen sleeps in a sleeping bag atop a short-legged cot in the living room. At bedtime he snuggles down, amuses himself with his imagination before dropping off into slumber. Our kids never went to bed that mildly.


Christopher lays out his sleeping bag on the floor with his head to the mirrored closet doors and his feet in the kitchen. He's somewhere there in the red and black fabric.

One morning a soft knock sounded on the door at 5:30 a.m. No one had alerted us that anyone was coming to draw Mr. Bob's blood for a coumadin test, so we weren't expecting visitors. Chris untangled himself from his cocoon, got to the door on his knees, opened it and the nurse asked, "Mr. Humphrey?" which, after all, is indeed his name. Never mind that he looked too young to be living here. Luckily all health workers check a patient's birth date before starting any procedure.

Somehow she picked her way to the bedroom where the intended Mr. Humphrey withdrew his arm from the covers, offered it to her. Mission accomplished, she found her way to the front door and let herself out. 

Retirement home living is different in some ways and that was one of them. Friends express surprise that maintenance people and health workers have access to our rooms if we don't answer their knock. I, myself, am surprised that so many of the staff have found us in our nightclothes and various stages of undress.  These things matter less with age, I think.. My mother used to say, "If you see anything you haven't seen before, throw your old hat at it." So far no one's tossed a chapeau in our direction. 

THE NITTY-GRITTY

 SOME DIVERSIONS were more than welcome the past few days. Chris, Frances and Owen enjoyed the Star Wars concert at the Hollywood Bowl and it worked out for Susan to use the ticket originally intended for Mr. Bob.


From Alaska, Susan brought a lightsabre for Owen and some Princess Leia hair buns for Frances to wear. I love how you can see the lighted weapons in the photo Chris took that evening.

The next day Owen was moved to report his impressions of the concert in full detail. I suspect he'll remember it the rest of his life.

Before the Northern California family headed back home, we had quite a fest of picture taking. Owen's learning the craft of photography early in his life.

We've been more than a little concerned about the lack of nursing care in the hospital. What happened to the idea of a daily bath? It's no longer routine, at least at this hospital and my bone of contention is that a patient and family should be advised to ask when such attention is desired. Susan's desire to be a patient advocate was put to the test the last couple of days. She's had lots of experience over the years with her younger son's special medical needs.

All right. Here's the latest.........It seems that malignancy was detected in the tests administered last Thursday, so it's time to stiffen our upper lips so our faces don't crumple in fright and sadness. Eleven days of staying in bed has threatened to turn Mr. Bob into an invalid, so it was good to see him taking a few steps out of his room today, with the help of a technician in charge of oxygen. He'd been told, in no uncertain terms, not to get out of bed to use the bathroom. He's a man of his own mind and taking his oxygen with him, he's disobeyed the instructions with every call of Nature. Chris snapped this picture, entitling it "Bathroom Break".  We'll continue to look for these little amusing moments and bring them to the web log, all the while hoping you'll continue to give us the interested support you've expressed so far, as we embark on this next journey. You've no idea how precious your involvement is to us.........it lifts us up. Thank you for that.

THE VISITORS

A whole busload of visitors descended upon the Manor this morning. I don't have the story in its entirety, but to my understanding, there is a retirement home in another suburb of Los Angeles that has been purchased by someone who wants to convert it into another use, namely retail outlets downstairs, medical offices upstairs and the elderly residents have to move on. The saddest part of all is that this is the second time these people have been uprooted. Not exactly an enjoyable activity for people our age.

The purpose for their excursion today was to see if they might like to relocate to Windsor Manor. At lunch we sat with three ladies, one of whom was adamant about not wanting her picture taken, but here are the other two:

This lady was the most eager to talk and had lots of questions about what it's like to live here. She was amazed at our dining room service, since where she now lives, residents have to select at the beginning of the week their menu for the whole week whereas we are given a choice at each meal.

Sadly, there was no opportunity to visit with this woman. Her hearing was too impaired for any sort of conversation, but she did seem to love the picture Mr. Bob took of her. 

After lunch, tours were given of the facility and after a short question and answer period it was time for these transient oldsters to board the bus to go back home. We hope many of them will make the decision to come live in our house. They've certainly perfected the retirement life and would bring new ideas and richness to the daily fabric of our living here.

"Goodbye," we said, "We hope to see you again soon" and we walked with them to the front door and watched as walkers were stowed away in the back of the bus and the wayfarers said their farewells to go home and mull over the wisdom of moving to Windsor Manor. As we know, it's a big decision and not one to be made lightly. The retired Baptist minister said, "My wife and I will need to go home and pray about it, but I think our prayers have already been answered."

Amen