August 30, 2003

The heat was terrible as I rode to pick up Mom. I was trying to hurry so we would get back in time for her to see Chris before he went to work.

Mom immediately smiled and started snapping her fingers to the old time gospel music I was playing as she slid into the car. I glanced at her while I drove and noticed how she seemed to enjoy looking out the window as we rode along.

If I didn’t pick Mom up weekly, she would never get outside Facility. Most of the people there rarely get to go anywhere and I feel for them. It must not be too pleasant to be continually inside of a building. I start to go stir crazy myself and I’m sure many of the residents of Facility must feel the same. They do have a secured area outside and in good weather the doors are unlocked. However, most of the people don’t think to go outside very often.

Anyway, we got home in time to see Chris for a while. After he left, I decided to take Mom and walk the 1/2 block to Richee Freeze for an ice cream cone. The heat was bad, and Mom walked so slowly this was the loooongest 1/2 block I have ever walked. She did enjoy the ice cream and there were a couple of little kids in there. [Mom loves little kids.]

I got lost in thought as we sat and licked our cones.

In this very establishment I got my first job when I was 15. I was so excited and anxious about doing well. I didn’t work there long before I made a mistake and got laid off! I went home and cried and cried and cried.

I studied the face of the man taking our order for the ice cream and decided he was too young to be the person who traumatized me. I wondered if it was his dad or his uncle.

To this day I feel I was treated very unfairly.

They were training me to take orders. I was told to abbreviate the items on a pad and to also call back the order.

Things were going along okay until I got an order for two hamburgers with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I wrote on the pad: 2 ham l-t-m and yelled out, “Two hamburgers, lettuce, tomato, and mayo!” Well, I should have written hb, because what got prepared was two ham sandwiches. I apologized profusely to no avail. One mistake for which they were at least partly to blame (I DID holler hamburger) and I was out the door.

I got a better job with better pay in short order. I learned my job well and became a trainer. So THERE, Mr. Meanie!

I also thought about the times my dad used to take Mom, my kids and me there. My kids would be all happy. Yummy, ice cream. Yay. Rah. Rah. Then we would get our ice cream and Chris would take a few licks (he was about 3 or 4) and hold it out and say, “I don’t want it.” This would irritate Dad, because he wasn’t into wasting money. I would try to coax Chris into eating it and he would say, “I don’t like it.” It was months before someone (I don’t think it was me) figured out that the ice cream cones were giving Chris a brain freeze. DUH.

I got a brain freeze of my own today strictly in honor of Chris and the trials of youth.

We strolled back home and then I took Mom back to Facility. It was 3:30 and the aide was already getting people into the kitchen for dinner which is served at 5:00 P.M. She was working alone again. Working alone with 14 people to get set up to the table. 3 or 4 of them need to be fed. I felt sorry for her because it’s extremely difficult to serve a meal with no help. I also felt sorry for the people who were expected to sit at the table for an hour and a half waiting for the meal to be served. The aide was changing Mom when I left. I wonder if she restrained Mom into the chair for the long wait when I left.

Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.