On our last field day what was suppose to be special turned into very chaotic. I got off from work late and so the team arrived at Catholic Home about 5 minutes later than usual. I dropped everyone off at the front door and went to find a parking spot. As I got off the elevator, I saw Mary Lou sitting. I spoke to her and she remembered me because she smiled. When I entered through the doors, I was told that the room we use for our sessions was being used for the “nurse of the year” photographs. Yeah right nurse of the year, I’ve never seen them do anything special but that’s me. So we held our last session in the dining area. Brian and I approached Mary Lou and asked her if she wanted to come to story time with us. She replied, “oh no not today and I know it will be fun but that’s okay.” She said the fun part because that’s what I had been telling her to get her to come to the sessions. Bridgette told us Gretchen was getting her hair done and so she wouldn’t be there. Right then we knew story telling would be different. Gretchen is our glue during the session and she is the one who understands that this is creative and she helps a lot with the stories. Without her, we had Ann the “they aren’t my friends, I don’t them”, Mary Lou the “it’s out there somewhere, to be with the young people” and Ruth the “I don’t know” responders. And that’s exactly how our story went. Ruth was the only one who sat in the circle with us, Mary Lou and Ann sat where they atecause we were in the dining room and they thought it was time to eat. Poor ladies, they were confused. So when Terrell and Brian asked questions they had to shout so they could hear them. Oddly enough we chose a picture of runner but the ladies thought she was a dancer. Our story was full of their usual reponses. In fact the title was what they young people want, Mary Lou’s favorite response. We had to pitch in a little to contribute to the story or we wouldn’t have had a story. Mary Lou was talking to her self about something else and Ruth and Ann were falling asleep as usual. The story was really short but without their participation there was nothing we could do. It was funny because at the end of our story Mary Lou said 99% of the people wants the story to end. She was sick of us asking her questions. Then she said 99% of the people waited for the next story time. So this was a bittersweet last field day, more bitter than sweet but we worked it out. At the end of our celebration, I will truly miss the times I shared with these ladies.
Ericka Watkins
