Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation
Date: Monday, February 25, 2013; 6:30 pm-7:45 pm
I had arrived a bit early and
decided to walk about in the nearby ‘Trader
Joes’ before it was time for Bingo Night.
What that meant was that most of the volunteers had arrived and
one of them had already taken up a space next to Emma. That was a bummer, though I would still be
sitting at her table, but working with Valerie, whom I had met at a previous
project. Also at our table was Dorothy,
while the volunteer working with Emma was Justina. I looked around and besides Wilson and our
Volunteer leader Jen, we had Jim and Jane, who shared the calling duties.
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| Tonight I would be using Doubloons! |
As is usually the case, the first
few minutes are a chance for the residents to play with the dogs who are
there for Pet Therapy, and that gave me an opportunity to chat with the ladies
at my table. Since I had never met
Dorothy before, I introduced myself. She
said that Dorothy was not her birth name and she had changed to it because she
hated the one that she was given. Sounded
like a woman who knows exactly what she wants!
We talked about the dinner they serve at Lakeview and there wasn't much
enthusiasm about the food. Valerie bemoaned
that there usually is Pasta and remembered a time when she had just come to
Lakeview and they had served a Cornish Hen.
That sounded like a great meal and I told her so. She said that there used to be a Chinese chef
and since he had left, the food had not been that great. Dorothy said that she just liked the desserts
and that was good enough. I liked her
already!
Jim called the room to order and
it was time to begin. He usually starts
by giving out some stats and said that Valerie owned the single evening’s record
of 6 wins. That was amazing and like Joe
DiMaggio’s hitting streak or Celtics of the 60’s, a record that may never be
broken. We started playing and there
were the usual quirks like Kenny announcing the time and channel for ‘Hawaii Five-O’ when the number 50 was
called. Most of the room had taken to
humming the tune and Kenny was now announcing the guest star that was appearing
in tonight’s episode, along with his resume.
I have a feeling that watching the show with Kenny may be a whole lot of
fun.
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| Emma's favorite crackers |
This was turning out to be an
extremely lucky evening for Dorothy and she won three times, though she kept
only two of the prizes – ‘Word Search
Vol. 103’ and hard sugar candy. When
she chose the puzzle book I asked if she had solved the earlier 102 volumes,
something that she found funny. Poor
Emma on the other hand seemed to be having one of her unlucky evenings and at
one stage even said that she did not like the white chips because they are
unlucky. Whether that’s true or not, she
did manage to win one game and as soon as Jen came with the prizes, Emma announced
that she wanted one of those peanut butter cheese crackers, apparently her
favorite snack.
While all of this was going on,
Valerie was getting grumpier because everyone around her was winning. While she was still making some funny
comments like “Your face is dirty”, when
number 30 was called, after a while she put her game face on and became
serious. That concentration seems to
have worked, because she won twice and each time took the same type of peanut
butter cracker. When I asked her why she
chose the same type, she said she would give one to her roommate. I thought she was being sweet, but she immediately
said the reason she wanted to give her roommate crackers was so that she could
shut up since she talks too much. At one
stage Valerie said to me, “I want a
drink”, and she did not mean water. “Me too”, I whispered back!
The evening ended with our table
having done extremely well, with six wins.
Emma, being the gentle soul that she is, asked everyone if they wanted
to share her crackers. I asked her if
she had received anything for Valentine’s Day, hoping she would remember the
flowers. For a moment I could see the recognition
in her eyes, but it passed and she started talking about her daughter. Whether she remembers or not, I hope she liked them, even if for a short time.
I dropped Dorothy in her room, having enjoyed her company a lot. Before
leaving I chatted with my buddies Jim and Larry and saw that they had a new book,
no doubt something which will make it to the book review in ‘As We See It’. It had been another satisfying evening and
for a change, a victorious one.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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