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Waking up at 11:20 a.m.
Wheat Flakes, Maple Granola, and Raisins with Almond Milk.
All day shift at China Wok.
Navel Orange.
It's Easter and people keep calling to ask if we're open or not. Just because Jesus has risen today doesn't mean nobody eats.
Peanut Butter Sandwich. Almond Granola Bar. Salt n Vinegar Chips. Green Tea with Honey.
Janice is running around the restaurant like a mini tornado of energy screaming, bouncing the ball, and spraying every bug in sight with water.
Ana shows up for routine visits after she gets off work. As usual she provides me with a pastry treat from the bakery – Cherry Pie this time – we both share it.
Banana.
Delivering an order to Bay Pointe rehabilitation hospital. You can always depend on finding funny old people and witnessing a laughable incident or two. While waiting for the nurse to come retrieve her Chinese food a pleasant old black lady in a wheel chair says hello to Ana and I. Another nurse approaches...
"How you doin'?" the old lady asks the nurse.
"How you doin'?" the nurse asks back.
"I'm waitin' for a cab."
"Oh," she responds with a sarcastic shock. "Where you goin'?"
She says with a relief, "I'm goin' home."
You can't help but smile. Alzheimer's is a sad part of old age. She's not going anywhere. But then she turns to me, "Are you waitin' for a cab, too?"
I chuckle, "Oh no."
I propose a challenge to Ana in regards to all the times when she gets a little passive-aggressive and makes jealous remarks. I explain...
Experiencing a windstorm...
Ana: "I feel like you can laugh at everything in life."
Me: "That sums up your philosophy right there."
Haunting sounds of the wind on the top floor of a hotel at the oceanfront...
Off work and back home.
Mongolian Chicken with Mixed Vegetables.
While I'm catching up on writing and other things in my room Ana is making a banana cream pie downstairs – there are others loitering in the dining room swallowing pills, drinking, and laughing as hard as they can like it's the last day of their lives.
Ana informs me she's finished with the pie and also cleaned the dishes and kitchen. What a doll. That's one less thing I have to do. Even though she wasn't planning on it she asks to spend the night cause it's pretty late and she doesn't feel like driving home. I say it's okay but in an obvious nonchalant tone that rubs her the wrong way. I didn't mean it to sound like that. She knows how my schedule works on the weekends when I have to work 11-hour days and how when I get home the only energy I want to exert is on myself cause I have none to give. I need my personal time to reflect and simply be alone after work (unless something important is scheduled).
When all is settled we cling on to each other under the covers.
Me: "I'm an old man. You sure you wanna be with an old man?"
Sleep around 3:30 a.m.
[i] Image by me.
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