Location: The Imperial Nursing Home
Date: Thursday, January 02, 2014; 6:30-7:45 pm
The first project that I did back
in 2013 was at Imperial Nursing, in fact the project where I met Wilson for the
first time. Thus I decided to
start 2014 at the same project. What can I say, I like symmetry. It was cold and snowy and rather than
walk the one mile from train station to Imperial, I took a cab. It also meant that I arrived way in
advance and had to wait. Sara, who
is the Volunteer leader, arrived and as she introduced herself, I mentioned how
I had first met her exactly a year ago.
After some we were joined by another volunteer, Rahul and from the looks
of things, this was it since everyone else had cancelled. We chatted for some time before going
in and Sara asked if I had volunteered with Chicago Cares on other
projects. “Yeah”, I said, “You could
say that”.
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| Back at Imperial |
A resident whom I had seen before,
and who looks like the representative for others came out to chat with
Sara. They were in fact tagging
each other like kids and it was fantastic to see their rapport. It was time for us to go inside and
considering that there were just two volunteers besides her, I told Sara to
place us wherever the need was the most.
But, as soon as I went through the door, one lady asked if I wanted to
join them and I accepted and sat at their table. She introduced herself as Polly, appeared to be good natured,
and you could see from her face that she smiled a lot. Next to her was a gentleman who
introduced himself as Ray or Mr. Wilmer.
I said that it made him sound like a CEO of a company and there’s nothing
wrong with that. They both
struggled with my name, but kept trying to get it right. A third resident, Josie, who had just
joined us, told me that she would forget mine soon anyways.
All three of them started sifting
through a bunch of Bingo cards looking for their lucky numbers. Josie saw mine and said that it had
several of her favorite numbers. I
offered to trade, which she readily accepted. She told me not to curse if I didn’t win with her card and I
said likewise. Polly asked where I
lived and I said in downtown. She then asked if I drove and I said I didn't
have a car. She said that they had
taken away her car away because it was too dangerous. I asked what car she had and she
replied, ‘Buick’, though she had many
before that. I said that it was a big car and she said that she needed a car to
get to work. I asked where she
worked and she said the USPS on Harrison, a building I was quite familiar with.
Both, Polly and Ray, are native
Chicagoans and I asked Josie about her hometown. She said that she was from Ohio but had moved to Chicago a
long time ago. She said that in
old day’s people just packed and moved.
It must be wonderful and liberating to be able to do that; no over-analyzing
or planning. She said that she had
moved with her now-ex-husband. “My only husband”, she said. She said that she’s been divorced for
30 years and after that experience she did not want to get married again! I asked if she’d seen him since and she
said yes, since he lived nearby with his girlfriend of many years. I asked why they weren’t married and
she said that after his experience with Josie, he knew better. Man, I liked her!
The game was about to start and I
asked Polly what she would pick as prizes. She said that she always chooses stuffed toys for her two
nephews and I said that she must be a great Aunt. Ray pulled out his glasses and since they were broken, he
had to put sunglasses on top to hold them firm. We all laughed at this and I said it does suit him to be
called “Mr. Wilmer” now. He said that it has helped for several
months, thought at home he just holds them over his eyes if he has to
read. While we did laugh, there
was certain poignancy to this situation.
Sara was calling the numbers and so we focused on the game boards. All three of them liked color schemes
for their coins, with Josie and Polly choosing Red and Ray taking Blue and
Black. Josie said that Ray usually
helps her, since after three strokes her right side was paralyzed and she
couldn’t see much from her right eye. I said that she had me this evening to
look at her board.
 |
| Polly's Socks |
Ray showed me how someone had
signed their name on his Bingo card.
Polly said that there were many such cards as residents usually signed a
card that they thought was lucky for them, so as to pick it the next time. I told Ray that if he won on his card,
we should sign his name on it with even bigger letters, at which we all
laughed. I was constantly looking
at Josie’s board, and though we were coming close, nobody on our table was
winning. For some of the numbers Josie
would look at me for confirmation and most of the times she was wrong and I
would shake my head. But this was
not to last and finally she won, at which she took a colorful bag as a prize. Next it was Polly’s turn to win and
unfortunately the stuffed toys had proved to be popular and were already
gone. I said that in a way it was
good since now she would get to pick for herself. She looked at everything that Sara had on the cart and then
chose lovely pink socks. I told Ray
that now it was up to the two of us to win, and I did end up winning. I asked Ray to take a prize and he
selected butterscotch hard candy.
Now that everyone on our table had won, we could be satisfied.
Final part of the evening was the
lightening round and everyone at my table won, including me. Sara didn’t even bother checking the
numbers before handing out the prizes.
Polly selected a brush that Ray wanted, so he ended up taking another
bag of his favorite candy. The
game was over soon and now it was time to leave. I pushed Polly’s chair up to her 6th floor room
and then left. It truly had been a
wonderful evening with all of these charming people. It’s amazing how many stories they have to tell, and with
good humor too. Not many people
will realize that it really is a fun thing to hang out with these seniors
playing Bingo on a cold evening…or any evening. For me, it had been a great start to
the New Year. Hopefully I don’t
wait another year before returning.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their
privacy
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