LIFE IN BILLINGS

February 17, 2013

I've decided the very best way to keep up with all the family since moving to the norther Tundra and working 55--80 hours a week is to start blogging again.  So here we go.

Richard and I both truly love doing this work.  I kind of feel like I am on a mini mission and that mission is making elderly people's day just a little brighter.

Here is how our week goes.  Sunday and Monday are our days off and I am so glad because it means we get to go to church.  The ward we go to is the "Central" ward.  The Bishop's wife was telling me the wards here start at the temple and kind of spoke out from there like a wagon wheel.  They did that so all kinds of economic classes would be included in the ward.  It is a pretty good idea if you ask me.

Anyway back to our work week.  We start back to work at 11 am on Tuesday.  We work from 11 am until the kitchen is done, cleaned up, and the employees have all left.  That is anywhere from 7:30 until 9:00 depending on how chatty the kitchen crew is (several of them are high schoolers--what can I say!).  Richard says the chattiness is going to come to a halt.  By 7:00 we are tired. 

After we close for the night we are on call for emergency calls.  They have emergency cords in three places in their apartments.  If somebody falls, or thinks they are having a heart attack, or can't get off the toilet (that is the best kind) they pull the emergency cord.  Since we are independent living we cannot help them in any way as far as lifting, etc.  I was just more or less kidding about that toilet thing.  Usually it is a situation that they fall when trying to get off the toilet.  But the truth of it is we get very few calls and most of those are false alarms.  However when that alarm goes off Richard has to throw on some pants and a shirt and I just put my slippers on and go wandering to the office in my jammies.  My job is to clear out the emergency system, tear off the little piece of paper that prints out the apartment number the call came from, and wait for a call from Richard to see if I need to dial 911.  Everything is posted in a log.  Richard knows what apartment to go to because he has a pager.  When all the excitement is over and Bob says he is so sorry, that he was just trying to wipe his hands on the towel but accidentally pulled the cord, Richard and I go back to bed and can't sleep.  It is all kinds of fun!!

Wednesday we start at about 6:45 and are off at 3:00.  Thursday we start at 11:00 and go through the same routine as Tuesday.  The fun begins on Friday when we are on duty from 7 a.m. Friday morning until 7 am Sunday morning.  There has to be two people on duty in the community at all times.  That means I can't bail and go to Nordstrom during that time.  Oh wait--there is no Nordstrom in Billings.  Nor is there a Macy's.  Ah but we do have Wally World and yes we have Dillard's so all is well.

In all thruthfulness Richard and I love our jobs but more than that we love the people.   The average age of the community is 83.  We have one resident who is 104.  She is as stone deaf as Grandpa Clark was and is convinced her home health care person, who by the way has worked for her for 7 years, is stealing her clothes.  I am looking at this arthritic, kind of chubby little old lady and thinking to myself, "Do you realize most of your clothes are at least 50 years old and your home health care person is about 5'9 and maybe 140 pounds.  HMMMMMMMMM.  But as we like to say, some of these people are "happily confused".  This little old lady couldn't figure out why this young woman gets so darn mad when she accuses her of stealing.  In her words, "She hits the ceiling!"  And sweet Richard just sits there with his chair pulled up close to her and looks in her eyes and says, "Sure, sure, I understand, that's too bad."  Actually by morning she will forget she's been in the office anyway.

We have a lot of people here who are just wonderful.  There is a man named "Fred" who is almost blind.  He sits in front of the fireplace all the time.  I went over and sat by him one day and asked him why he always sits by himself.  I heard his life story but also made a friend for life.  When dinner time came, (meals here are breakfast, dinner, and supper) I went and got him and said, "Fred I have a special place for you to sit."  I took him to a table where two other men were sitting and said, "You don't mind if Fred sits with you do you?"  What could they say.  But I notice they chatted all through dinner.  Now everytime Fred sees me he--well let's rephrase that because he doesn't really "see" me--every time he walks towards me I say, "Hi Fred--how you doing today?"  He always says, "Oh hi dear, how are you dear?"

Then there is Louise who is LDS.  Each time I go to her table I pretend to pour coffee in her cup.  She chuckles and says, "Now Sharon you know I like hot chocolate."  Vivienne sits in her chair right outside the office and reads the paper.  She knows everything about everybody and where they live, and anything you would want to know about a person so I often call out the door and say, "Hey Vivienne--what is Freda's last name?"  She tells me and then she tells me a tidbit about them.  I told her the other day she could be my executive assistant.  She said, "Yea and I won't even get paid for it."  I said, "Not only that but you get the pleasure of paying me $3000 a month to be my assistant."  She thought that was pretty funny.

I thought when I came here I could somehow hide the fact that I limp a lot on my left side.  WRONG!!  These oldsters notice everything.  A lady named Jan grabbed me one day and handed me two fridge magnets with her son's info on them.  She said, "Now I know you are LDS and so is my son and he is a darned good chiropractor and his office is just a block away.  You go see him.  He actually is the same guy the Manager goes to all the time.  Since I couldn't find a Nucca chiropractor here I decided to go to him and he is awesome.  When Jan handed me the card and told me her son was LDS I said to her, "Well why aren't you--you should be too!"  She told me she just liked her cigarettes too much.  She did almost make me cry the other day.  She asked me how it happened that we came to work in Billings.  I told her the story and that we thought we would end up in Utah for some reason I guess God wanted us here.  She said, "God sent you here because we needed you so much.  This community needs you and I hope management is smart enough to leave you guys here for a long, long time.  We have had way too many bad Managers and Co-Managers and everybody loves you guys.  You had better stay here."  I walked away and truly almost cried.

So many people have said that same thing to us. Every Saturday they do the Pledge of Allegiance before dinner.  After we said the pledge I told them I remembered doing that every day during grade school and it broke my heart that my grandchildren didn't have the same privilege.  We have a lot of vets here, men and women, and I told them how much we appreciated all they had done for our country.  I told them I agreed with Tom Brokaw, they truly were the greatest generation.  I sat down and they all clapped.  I truly don't think these people get a lot of kudos.  They just like to be loved and have their coffee poured the minute they come in the dining room, which Richard does.  No other manager has done that for him.  The little old ladies keep telling me just how lucky I am and what a fine man he is.  One of the ladies said she asked Richard how he got to be such a good man and he said to her, "My Dad."  I told her that was a true statement, that I loved Richard's Dad with all my heart and he was one of the finest men I had known.

I am really happy here as is Richard.  It's amazing to me that we can go from a 3000 sq ft home to a one-bedroom apartment and it really doesn't matter to me.  I feel like my life has purpose again.  Not that it didn't before.  I loved tending my grandchildren and hopefully setting the right kind of example for all my grandchildren.  I miss Hayli, Chelsi and Austin calling and asking if they can come for the weekend and work.  I miss having Cash and Sloan run in the door on a regular basis.  I miss seeing cute little blonde headed Hailey, Maddy and Bronson and wild child curly headed Ellie coming in the door.  I miss seeing all the cousins playing together when Maile and her four boys and Kami and her two boys come.

But I also feel like we are in a place where we have an opportunity to bring a smile to the face of many people on a daily basis.  So what does the future bring?  I don't know.  Hopefully my hips will hold out long enough to do this job until God wants us to quit.  Hopefully I can keep teasing these residents and asking them if they have a "hot" date tonight.

Our apartment opens right out into the big dining room.  So another perk is late at night say 8 pm, remember some of these people go to bed at 6!  But at nightime if I am hungry I can open the door, run across the dining room to the place they put fruit and leftover cookies etc. etc. etc., and grab a snack and run back to my apartment and all this is done in my flannel jammies!  I told Richard I was really mad that I had gained 3 lbs.  I think it must be all that walking we do has turned some fat into muscle and you know muscle weighs more than fat.  Yes that is definitely it!

Another advantage--we have been here over 2 weeks and used not even 1/4 tank of gas.  We have purchased practically zero groceries and I have not cooked a single meal.  It just doesn't get much better than that.

This blog has gone on way too long.  We love you all and remember we have a guest suite we can use for any of you that come up and free meals!! (Plus all the entertainment you will have watching the antics of old people!!)