A Sharp Mind

While at the City of Del Rio Recycling Center I could not help but notice that the Housing for the Elderly complex was across the highway from there.  My mother had been trying to get in touch with one her friends that resides there but her telephone number had been disconnected.

Many of her elderly friends complain that their grown children have pressured them into disconnecting their home landline telephones and replacing them with cellulars that they neither want nor know how to operate. Their kids claim that with a cellular they can reach them wherever they may happen to be even though being elderly and not having a car, they are usually home!

I had never been to this complex, nor did I know where her friend lived or her last name to boot!  On the off chance that someone else might I decided to go for it. I parked close to the office but knowing fully well that unless I was a relative they would not give me any information, I stopped and talked to a lady resident that was walking the grounds.

I asked her if she knew this person and she said she did not.  Then she said to me " Aren't you the daughter of Mr. X?"  I was surprised not that she remembered my dad (a lot of people knew him) who passed away over 12 years ago but that she remembered ME.  She asked me how my mother was doing and if I still lived in Houston!  Wow, this lady had a good memory.

I had to admit to her that I did not remember her and she then told me she worked at the nursing home where my dad lived the last few years of his life after having suffered several strokes.  It was a pretty warm day and she was a talker...so she invited me out of the sun into her home.  There I saw pictures of her when she was younger and it dawned on me who she was.

She cited names and events effortlessly and I could not help but be a tad jealous of her recollection.  She told me she was 76 years old and was in better shape than when I knew her because she would walk twice a day around the complex.  She had lost about 30 pounds because she did not want to become diabetic.

To make a long story short, it turned out that she did know the lady I was looking for but she knew her by her formal name.  She told me that her provider found her scratched and passed out in her apartment.  Her son was notified and he took her back to whatever town it is he lives. On her last telephone conversation she confided to mother that she feared she was losing her mind.

What a contrast in these two ladies, wish we could all be like the lady with the sharp mind.

Good Afternoon.  May you all have a great Super Bowl Sunday!