Grow old with me ...
Jean sat at the kitchen table enjoying her fresh brewed kona blend. She felt the steam warm her cheeks as the dark roast trickled down her throat, warming her to the core. She took the dish rag and dabbed at her baby blue pin striped robe, she had dropped a speck of maple oatmeal earlier right on top of the snap.
Outside the window, blustery autumn winds hollered through the clearing. Tall grasses twisted and curved as if they were bowing, paying homage to someone or something. The fifty foot evergreen branches rose and fell, as the early morning fog lifted.
Dr.Phil was talking in the bedroom his voice blared from that old television , he had left it on he liked background comfort noise .The last few months had been a daily struggle, so many ailments,her fall, his cataract surgery, her doctor’s visits; medications …recollecting those ten days in the nursing home after she had fallen it had seemed like an eternity at the time. All she wanted was to be home in her own bed, yet she was unable to care for herself and she really couldn’t rely on Henry.
Henry had good days and bad but at times his mind wandered and he stared off into space, his knees hurt from the arthritis and his hips as well. His daily trek to the mailbox at the end of the driveway had even become a chore on some days. He’d go capture the mail, then dash inside and get his metal file box and commence to writing the checks...as soon as the bills came in he made out the payment, stuffed the envelope and added a stamp. He spent more money on stamps than most people spend on entertainment. Always giving a small token to the people who sent you return address labels …he had over three thousand address labels more than he would need in a lifetime.
She knew they both weren’t getting any younger but it seemed like when it rained it poured. She remembered her brief stay in the nursing home how he hadn’t come to visit her there. Her daughters and grandkids had offered to take him but he just couldn’t bring himself to go .She didn’t know whether he was scared to see her there, or if he simply hated the medicinal setting. Perhaps it was his own sense of helplessness because he couldn’t care for her himself. She knew he had gotten a bit angry about everyone else making decisions around the house … a bit of resentment had built up.
At this moment he was out in the garage futzing’ around with something. He would do that three or four times a day .The kids would always tease him about getting into trouble out there or in the basement sometimes. He was kind of like MacGyver as far as technique in rigging things .It made her smile thinking about some of the projects he had attempted.
She could hear the music from the early news now in the bedroom. Jean stood up looking down at the speckled gold and tan linoleum, making a note to herself that she needed to get it scrubbed. Henry tracked in pine needles and dirt, she hated when he wore his bedroom shoes outside it simply irked her to no end. Jean walked slowly to the counter and grabbed a pad of paper and the store adds from yesterday, they needed a few things; a new mop was number one. So she was going to make a list, and it would give him something to do as well.
She compiled the list and made one last check in the cupboards, to see if there was anything else they needed. She picked up the box of graham crackers and realized there were only a few left in the package, so she added that to the list and put the box on the table so she could show him. His memory was really scattered at times, fuzzy like doing a puzzle and the pieces just didn’t fit quite right.
A few minutes later he came on to the screened porch, he stomped his feet and wiped them on the rugs out there. It amazed her how sometimes he did remember to get the dirt off. He came inside and looked at her and mumbled something, they both were hard of hearing and neither one had a hearing aide .Every now and then she thought it was better that way .Her daughter Anne had said once, that it amazed her how if her and her sister Caroline were whispering about their parents, they seemed to hear those things…and they had giggled afterwards. She handed him the list and he read it and then he looked at her and said, “So you want me to go to the store?†She raised her voice and said, “Yesâ€.
She picked up the box on the table and showed him what she wanted so he would remember. A few minutes later he grabbed his keys and headed off to the store, driving at times had become an issue .Forgetting familiar regular routes to places he had driven all of his life, missing exits on the interstate and having to back track. Yet he refused to talk to a doctor about it and be checked.
She dressed and made the beds and looked at the clock and realized it had been over forty minutes, she wondered where he was at, she paced for about five minutes and then she heard him pull into the driveway and she let out a sigh of relief.
He finally came into the kitchen carrying two small bags and the new mop. She unloaded the bags, milk, swiss cheese, cream of chicken soup, Jell-O, a pound of turkey breast and a box of …what was this she pulled it out of the bag and started laughing.
He looked at her and said,â€What?â€
“Teddy Grahams©†she bellowed.†These are not the kind of graham crackers I wanted; they were long flat ones…â€
He got a bit loud again and grabbed the old box and the new one put them back to back...he said “It is the same size box.â€
She was laughing and then said,†Are you stocking up for Sydney?†(their first great grand daughter was just three weeks old now.)
He had a puzzled look on his face and was a bit agitated. Jean added, “It’s okay, they taste the same, we’ll spread them with peanut butter.â€
“Okayâ€, Henry said as he took the mop down into the cellar way.
Jean put all of the groceries away and opened up the gallon of milk. She poured two glasses and then grabbed the box of Teddy Grahams © and put a handful into a small wooden bowl. As he walked back into the kitchen she pulled out a chair and patted the seat and said lets have a snack …he grumbled and walked over and sat down.
They both enjoyed their milk and cookies as they glanced out the window. A couple growing old together both in their eighties, engrossed in their own thoughts. Just then the mailman pulled up to the mailbox and Henry jumped up to do his daily chore, some things always remained the same.
Maryann Corrigan ©Copyright 11.17.2010
