I met a RN yesterday who graduated TWU (Houston Campus) two years before me. There's a side story to that.
But I want to talk about something else. I made home visits today as part of a home health agency survey. I visited a 65 year old woman who previously spent 19 years in prison for killing her husband. Her story: she and her husband lived in a crime-riddled neighborhood long ago. He brought her a handgun and taught her how to use it for self defense. Some time later, he came home, and something triggered him to beat her. She got her handgun and shot him (in self-defense). Apparently the judge stated at her sentencing, that if it was up to him, he would not send her to prison.
I visited an elderly woman living in government housing apartments. She hailed from the Maryland coast and had been in Texas in this apartment for six years. She told me she hated Texas, but somehow, she was ordered to move to Texas. All her family remain in Maryland. Except for her physical limitations, she remains fiercely independent.
Another woman I visited suffered from severe osteoarthritis. Conversationally, I learned she was from a county in which I lived and worked many years ago. Without prompting, she told me she lost her daughter (who had three children) 10 years ago. Her daughter was killed by the husband; then he shot himself. My patient raised her three grandchildren. They are adults now, well-educated and leading productive lives.
Life can be hard. We all go through times of stress, challenge, grief, heartache and downright difficult times. Each of these women had made their way to today, overcoming the difficulties they encountered. None of them were bitter.
My life lesson today. Thank you, ladies!
Today was Pedicure Day. Our appointments were both at 11:00 AM. Vicki and I schedule this time together just to catch-up and maybe use pedi time as kick-off for a Saturday road trip. Today's pedi activity was to meet at Drew's Place in Como/Camp Bowie area for lunch---right after our pedicures.
So---we're at Drew's and Drew is in the kitchen looming over his gastronomic domain. The dining room has just a few tables of 3 or 4 persons/table there before us. The dining room at Drew's Place probably seats about 50, maybe 60 people in a close-knit environment.
BTW, I must preface the rest of this with the statement that I swear I witnessed a cosmic event and the rest will describe this. Also, I am very curious to hear comments about this post from those of you who are reading this. DEAL? Vicki told me that she will never forget today's events at lunch.
Okay---go forward with this explanation: Drew's Place is an honest-to-God soul food restaurant that pretty much beats any other S-F restaurant I've visited anywhere. And the sweet tea is PERFECT.
We're sitting at the first customer's table from the front door and we are well into our lunches and our conversations about work, family, etc. Vicki was facing the door and my back was to the door. I see her look up, go silent and look at something behind me. About that time, I could begin to hear sounds behind me, multiple kids' voices, some rising over the others. There was a slight breeze of air that circled among 9-12 young boys, all about 6-11 years old--all clean-cut boys, most resembled each other, in facial structure, coloring, etc---even freckles. The boys looked like they were coming off the Boy Scouts' bus into a cafe---straight off the cover of a 1959 Saturday Evening Post cover. As they "herded in," the boys shuffled, pulled out chairs, to sit, only they would abandon a chair and try to take a seat from one of the others. There were two couples who came in together, dressed in church clothes---perhaps they were having lunch after a funeral. These boys were moving deep into this table's outer perimeter. The boys were closing in and the two couples quickly abandoned their table, picking up silverware and their coffees and iced teas to steer clear of the boys.
We both remarked in astonishment that this was a rare sighting of human public behavior. As the boys were in herding-mode, a well-dressed woman from a different table comes over, puts her hands on two boys' shoulders and looks each in the eye and tells them to correct their behavior. To me, it wasn't that these boys were loud and rambunctious; it was as if there were just SO MANY of them and they appeared as if they were in another time--if not the 60's, then it was the early 70's. The two captive boys were still and looked away while the lady dressed them down a bit. Afterward, she went back to her table to continue her meal.
We saw another couple come in right after the boys. The newcomers to Drew's were just like, "Oh, shit." We got up abruptly so they could sit down.
Turns out, these boys are all brothers in the same family. No, they are not foster brothers in a foster home. They come a lot of times on Saturday for lunch. They eat without adult supervision; a taxi-VAN brings them and sits outside to wait on the boys to finish their lunches. The parents never come.
Vicki and I were told that these boys order much more food than they eat. They've been coming for years.
Questions:
1. Are there sets of multiple births?
2. Twins, triplets?
3. Do they have different biological mothers?
4. Are these boys cousins, not brothers?
5. Was the cashier just making up a story about the boys?
Amazing lunch...we like Drew's quite a bit. We'll go again----for the soul food and now, to watch the boys!
Tune in in about a month or so. We'll keep you posted; maybe post a photograph--at least one of Drew's.
