Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2013; 6:30-8 pm
I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
Most of my memories of my teenage
years are associated with music and almost all of it had something to do with
radio. It wasn’t just the music itself,
it was also the shows, the hosts, the commercials…everything. It’s strange how certain things drift away
from your mind for years, but one trigger is all it takes to bring back those
memories, and not just a trickle, but an entire wave. I had not scheduled a project for this
evening, but seeing an opening, decided to sign up for this in the
afternoon. If I had not, I would missed
out on remembering something long forgotten, something that I needed to
remember.
I arrived to find that Jack, Jim,
Larry and Mary were already assembled.
Also present was my new buddy Elmer.
He had told me that he wanted to be involved in all of the projects at
the center and looks like he was sticking to his word. Besides Gwyn, there were 3 other volunteers,
including Fran, who had been present during our previous Elmer experience. He did look a bit subdued
today, though there were enough strong personalities to keep this interesting. We would be working on the September/October
issue of ‘As We See It’ this evening,
the same issue with which I had started my career with Chicago Cares last year. It had been Jack’s 89th
birthday recently and as usual, Gwyn had baked him his favorite ‘Oatmeal Raisin’ cookies, using dried
cranberries instead of raisins. Whatever
was in there, it was a delicious way to begin.
Gwyn paired me with another
volunteer Andrea, and we would be working on the computer to do specific
research. Fran and another volunteer Rebecca would be working with Jack on ‘Chase Book Of Events’, whereas Gwyn,
Jim, Larry and Mary would be discussing the book and restaurant reviews. Andrea looked like a fun person to work with
and I told her that we had been relegated to computer duties because we were
either too smart, or too dumb to contribute towards books and restaurant review
discussions! Actually, our task did have
something to do with books since we were asked to find something on October
being ‘National Book Reading Month’. Using Google as our ally we set off, but try
as we may, were unable to find any history of why, when and where October had
been nominated for this honor. We did
find what people could do to celebrate it through book clubs and schools. This was a bit strange until we found an
article that said that ‘National Book
Foundation’ had dropped the ‘National
Book Month’. What? We were mystified at this wondering what poor
October – my favorite month of the year - had done to deserve this ignominy. We could not find any supporting material,
but it was enough of a curious thing to include it in the issue.
The Lone Ranger |
We took down some notes on ‘The Lone Ranger’, hoping that Gwyn
would be able to decipher my handwriting.
She and the others were passionately discussing some restaurant serving
chicken and a thriller book – something that the residents love. They were also debating which of the staff
members to pick for the interview segment and I suggested picking the next
person who walked into the room. It was
funny since one of the resident assistants walked in and all of turned to look
at him! For the ‘Time Out’ section, which deals with sports, I said that we should
put down our SuperBowl picks on the
eve of the football season. Since we
still had some time left, Gwyn asked me to find out some fun facts about ‘Labor Day’ and the couple that we found
were that it was when the very first ‘Waffle
House’ opened and that there is something known as ‘Moustache Festival’ in California.
Radio Gaga |
Let's hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around cause we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time, you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
- lyrics by Roger Taylor
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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