Senior Breakfast Club

Location: Mary Hartwell Catherwood Apartments

Date: Saturday, January 04, 2014; 9:00-11:00 am

Sidewalks? What Sidewalks?

I had not been to this project since April and not to the site since ‘Serve-A-Thon’.  The walk from Sheridan train station to these apartments goes past a cemetery and I don’t know if the city is superstitious, but they never bother clearing the sidewalk next to the cemetery during winter.  This makes the walk dodgy at best with absolutely no grip for pedestrians.  But today was the worst conditions that I had seen.  Forget the uncleared sidewalk, there wasn’t any sidewalk to speak of. This meant that I had to walk on the road while avoiding cars and some very angry drivers, since I was hogging their lane.  Come on city!

I arrived to find all the regulars there  – Toby, Bridget, Erin, LaKieth, Alma, Irma, Sarah, Andy, Sofia and of course, Sandy.  Although these were folks that I had seen months ago, it was just like the old times for me.  Also present was Franklin from One Brick.  Sandy was wearing a mask since she was sick and wanted to contain it.  She said that she would assign duties and then leave.  She welcomed me back, saying that it had indeed been a long time and that it was great to see me.  She announced that it was Sarah’s last day before moving to New York and thus there was a card that people were signing to wish her well.  Trust Sandy to do this and I was happy to sign the card. 

The banana's I chopped

I asked LaKieth for my duties and as usual, he was busy with the fruit.  He said that I could cut the bananas into bite-sized pieces and after washing up; I peeled the bananas and cut them into 8 pieces each.  As I did this, LaKieth, Franklin and I were chatting and Franklin said that his dream job was to do accounting.  I said that this was the first time that I had heard anyone say this, having recently mentioned to someone that I could not imagine anyone making accounting sound interesting, and LaKeith laughed at this. Poor Franklin!

The residents had started assembling and I went and helped Bridget serve coffee.  As usual some of the residents were a bit demanding in terms of wanting to get served first, but we managed to get it done fast, notwithstanding spilling some hot coffee on my hand.  As we served them, two gentlemen thanked us for our service and called us “True Americans”.  I served them coffee and asked if they wanted some cream or sugar in their drink.  One of them declined, pulling out a ‘Starbucks Vanilla Latte’ flavored creamer from his pocket.  Talk about travelling in style. 

The eggs and biscuit were cooking in the kitchen, but Franklin was in charge of monitoring the hash browns that were cooking at the back of the room.  The reason for the cooker to be there was because they did not want to plug it in the same circuit where the sausages were being grilled.  Franklin had no idea regarding the readiness of hash browns and neither did I.  He was just adding butter periodically and I told him we should rely on expert opinions of Irma and Toby.  I left him to look after the Hash Browns and went over to chat with Sarah who was attending her last Breakfast Club before moving to New York.  I asked what she would miss the most about Chicago and wasn’t surprised to hear her mention friends.  I congratulated Toby on his 3-week old daughter and he said that it has been crazy nights so far.  Other conversations were happening everywhere and that is the signature characteristic of this project, since everyone knows each other so well. 

I went to look for the murals that we had made during 'Serve-A-Thon' but couldn't find any in the lobby.  I wonder what happened to them.  One lady resident came in and I served her coffee and after thanking me she asked where I was from, at which I gave my standard response of “Streeterville!”  But I knew what she was referring to and so said that I was born in India.  She said that she used to be a travel photographer’s assistant and so had worked on thousands of pictures from all over the world.  We talked about the various colors that one usually finds in India and she said that over there one does not have to go find a tourist place, since it was everywhere.  I could see how she would think that way and asked if she had traveled much.  She said that only in continental US and I could sense the sadness in her voice as she said it.  There are indeed so many unfulfilled dreams in this world.

Bingo prizes - Chocolates and Candies!

I kept moving through the residents checking to see if anyone wanted coffee or juice and encountered one Korean gentleman who tried to teach me how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in Korean.  I looked at the Bingo prizes on display and today we had a fascinating spread with chocolates and candies and other Christmas leftovers.  It was going to be an interesting game to see how people chose their prizes, but unfortunately I would be leaving earlier.  It was now time for serving breakfast and we formed our usual assembly line with runners holding a plate in each hand and the servers filling them, followed by the runners carrying them to the residents.  With our typical efficiency this was done at a very fast pace and then as people prepared for Bingo, I took up my duties as the dishwasher.

I started scrubbing the greasy serving trays and Irma brought over the eggs tray, which always presents a challenge.  The next 20 minutes were dedicated exclusively for that, scrubbing away the vessel and removing the disgusting egg bits from the sink.  Irma saw me and said that she could not do it.  When I was done, she said that the pan looked cleaner that before they started cooking!  While an exaggeration, I was pleased with the end results as well.  The Bingo was in full swing when I finished and typically I join some residents and cheer them on.  However I had to leave for my next project and so bid everyone goodbye, especially Sarah.  As I navigated through the streets with angry drivers glaring at me, I thought about how all of these people had become so familiar.  At best we meet once a month, and in my case with longer gaps.  But I do feel some sort of kinship with them.  For that reason alone this is one of my favorite projects.  Now I was headed to another, one which had been life affirming in a different way.