Many moons ago, (and thanks to "you know you are from S'boro crowd for reminding me)...I would go after school or Saturday's, to help the old people. I so proudly took a tray of orange juice around to them and fed them their dinner, etc. This was back when those tent dresses were popular..loose fitting. Anyway, there were so many of the old folks that I grew to love and some just kept me laughing. So, here are a few stories. Hopefully, they will give you a chuckle and if you ever want to enhance your life or get an extra bit of satisfaction or enjoyment out of life, try helping them.
So, there was one lady who sat daily out in the hallway in a wheelchair. Her hands were arthritic and she kept a hanky clutched tightly in her bent up fingers that she could not straighten if her life depended on it. Well, the hanky was used to wipe the snuff from her mouth because she loved a dip. The staff at the nursing home cautioned me about how much I could let her have. She would beg me for an extra little helping of snuff. Some days, as I walked by, she would reach out with her crumpled little hand and try to grab me. She knew that I would give her an extra little dip. Anyway, there was an African-American gentlemen that worked there that was so good to those people. He had all of the money in the world, it seemed. Well, one day, this man walked by and the old lady said to me, "see that black man there?" I quietly said, "yes, that is...". And, I said his name. Well, she told me that he used to be white and after he turned black, her daddy made her stop dating him and that she still loved him. Well, what a hoot of a story. God Bless her! We used to laugh and tease the black gentlemen about this.It was so funny. Every time he walked by, she would try to grab him.
Then, there was the lady from the mountain who wouldn't eat a bite. She had to hold her "baby" which was a rubber doll and she would take her food and feed the doll. But, she could spin a yarn. She would have a conversation with the preacher from her church ..an imaginary conversation out loud (of course, the preacher was nowhere around) and the story went like this, "Brother so and so, what are you doing fooling around with Sister so and so out behind the church?" Now, one could not help but wonder...I mean...did he really full around out behind the church or was it something that she had concocted?
And, there was another old lady that was loud and boisterous. She talked negatively about everyone that walked by. So, one day, I, dressed in my cute little dress, walked by, and she yelled as loud as she could, "See that girl going yonder? I bet she's pregnant."
Then, there was the old guy. Oh, mercy, he had to have been the meanest man in Jackson County. Yes, I had heard the tales about him. The nurses told me not to get too close to his bed when I delivered the juice. He could not get out of bed because he did not have legs. For whatever reason, his legs had been amputated. But, he let me know right off that having no legs wouldn't stop him. I took him the juice and he tried to grab me. "Get over here in this bed young lady and I will show you what an old man with legs can do." Oh, Billy Bob. No thank you. I believe I will take a rain check on that one.
And, finally, there was a lady who was not really that old, but for health reasons, was in the nursing home. Her husband and daughter-in-law would come and visit her. One day, they were visiting and a nurse and I walked into her room. She looked at us and said, "See that hussy? She is my daughter-in-law but she is "bonking" my husband." Well, she did not say bonking, but whatever. You get the message. Well, the daughter-in-law and her husband looked like they wanted to crawl under a rug or something. I thought that maybe she was right.
But, anyway, those were the funny stories. A lot of the old people shared stories, life stories, etc. And, there was a cute little couple that would roll their wheel chairs together in the hallway and sit there and hold hands. So sweet.
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