First Month at Care

Can't believe our first month is almost over. It really has gone by quickly. Guess that is because we have been so busy. I haven't driven very many times but Gary has done quite a bit. All of our driving has been here in town. We haven't had to do a run to Houston or Lufkin yet. Gary has driven the bus for the twice weekly Wal-mart trips a few times. They go on Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon. He particularly loves the Thursday afternoon run. Several of the assisted care facilities also bring their people on Thursday afternoon so there is a run on the battery carts plus just a challenge getting to the door to unload the bus. I tell him he has a "deer in the headlights" look when he returns from that one.

All in all we are really enjoying our time here. The people all have interesting stories to tell if you take the time to listen. Most of them lived through World War II and some will talk about it a little. It makes you feel silly when you complain about your aches and pains when you find out the things they are living with. The saddest thing is many of them have lost or are losing their sight. Several have macular degeneration and a couple just woke up without their sight. Some deal with it better than others but they all adjust and most have amazing attitudes about it all. Not sure I would have. We do have one man who is mad at the world over losing his sight but the majority just take it as another challenge.

The weather hasn't been as bad as we thought it might YET. Everyone keeps saying it will get worse. Thankfully our air conditioner keeps humming along.

First day on duty at Care

June 1 was our official start date on our own. Turned out to be quite a busy day. We went over around 7:30 to say a final good bye to the 5 teams that were leaving. What a neat bunch of people they were. Around 9:00 Gary drove the little bus into town for the twice weekly Wal-mart trip. He only had 5 people this morning. At 9:30 I drove one of the residents in to an appointment with the chiropractor. When we both returned we needed to move our motor home from the Escapees Campground over to our spot at Care. We needed to be moved by noon. Moved it over, plugged in the electric, turned on the AC and headed in for lunch. When lunch was over we went out to try to get the motor home all set up. Thought we had a few hours until our next assignment. Just getting started when Dan (the volunteer coordinator--our "boss") called and said he had scheduled a meeting for 2:30. So much for the few hours. I went into the building and by the nurse's office to have my TB test and made it to the meeting on time. Gary finished the things he had to do, took a quick shower, ran by the nurse's station and made it to the meeting a little late. We were still in the meeting when it was time for us to be in the kitchen for our evening duty there. Ran in there and helped serve supper, helped clean up and went back to the rig and collapsed. Hopefully that will be the only day quite like that.

The residents are all such interesting people that you are glad you can do things to help them. We have people with Doctorates, retired civil engineers, one that was the book keeper for the Grateful Dead, people that traveled all over the world for their jobs and many more. Of course they love to tell their life story to a whole new crew of listeners.