I read this on my nephew's wife's blog and just had to share it...
You didn't ask for it, or order it, yet when served to you, you have no choice but to devour it??? The past few weeks I have been working at a retirement center. I used to work there a long time ago, I felt very free once I quit and so going back was the first bite of humble pie for me. Sometimes things in life all though hard happen for a reason and it is to keep us grounded I believe...So it is with the change in Tom's employment. I have found myself doing things to bring in a little extra money. The Sarah Daft Home was nice enough to let me fill in for vacationers. Boy was it a large bitter and sweet serving of humble pie!
My first week I was filling in for house keeping. I have never done this sort of job and the snob that I am quite honestly felt this was not my kind of job. The first day I kept envisioning other people I know even trying this job and my attitude was not so good. I kept thinking of a documentary film, or one of those reality TV shows showing people being forced to clean toilets for the older generation. It would be a great show I tell you.... Like I said BAD attitude.....
The end of the first day I had some good and bad news to report to my sister Autumn (I was trying to find the humor in the situation)....
Bad News.... I had to clean a residents room who still in his old age stands to use the bathroom and his aim is quite a bit worse then a newly potty trained youngster. Good News.... I found an old tried with no success to use suppository behind the toilet. Any takers??
Bad News.... I had not been finished cleaning the urine coated walls for more then 1 minute when he returned to use the sparkling throne.... Good News.... He was comfortable enough with our new found friendship to not feel the need to shut his door.
Bad News.... I am easily saddened by these lonely old people, and their aimless wandering. Good News..... I am easily saddened by these lonely old people and their aimless wandering. I started to look around and see what they found important enough in their life to take with them to a one room existence. Mostly photo's and awards. Nothing really of material value... my heart was softening to my own life by the second. One lady had a picture (not a spectacular one just a snapshot not edited in anyway) of her and her husband dancing at what I guessed to be their granddaughters wedding. They were older (not as old as she is now) but the twinkle in their eyes as they danced with each other caught my eye, I'm sure if you were to find a picture of them dancing at their own wedding and went close up to their eyes, they would look the exact same. So is life in a flash they went from their wedding to their granddaughters to her alone in this old home waiting out her last season! You can tell who was more wealthy and who came from nothing even though they now are in the same boat in life... funny how that works out.
I also started watching the people and wondering which one would I be... There are two old ladies who sit by each other right outside the dining room waiting from one meal to the next they don't really talk to each other much they are just waiting life out. There was another old lady, that I liked to watch I picked her as me... she was a wanderer... she would walk into her room look around sit, stand back up walk out and down the hall, sit and walk back, she did not really know what to do with herself. I think this will be me, sometimes if I don't have anything to do, I don't know what to do with myself, or if I have too much to do I don't know what to do with myself. I later found out that this woman was 99 years old and will be 100 years old in January... I was amazed, I don't know that I will make it that far! She stills seems pretty with it, and later when I helped her to see the podiatrist she was the only one to take off and put on her own shoes.... I think this kind of attitude is what has gotten her so far.. I am so intrigued by her, I want to know her whole life story. A long with a few others.
A few other tastes of my turning sweeter with each bite of humble pie....
As a house keeper, people look at you differently which too me is sad. I started out thinking I am too good for this job and ended up thinking how grateful I am for my own life. The people I was covering for do this job every day of the whole year, I watched one lady when done with her shift walk to the bus stop to catch her ride home. I am so completely lucky/blessed in my life and can't believe I have wasted even a minute crying poor me!
The doctors who came into the home look at you one way when you're the house keeper and treat you completely different when you are working as the office staff. This was also sad to me. After a few days of housekeeping, they asked me to fill in, in the office instead. (A way way easier job). I felt sad for the other house keeper standing next to me (even though she would not share her toilet brush with me and told me just to use a sponge with my hand in the stinkin toilet) The look on her face was sort of like why does she get to move to office staff when I have been here for years, let her clean the toilets for me and I will work in the office. The office job was easier and a lot more fun, yet still life learning lessons and sweet bites of humble pie were still being offered to me.
I got to help with an auction one day, just donated items for the old people some old some new, lots of it looking like just junk to me. They were so excited over the stuff, they had so much fun too, they each had 30 beans to bargain with and some of them were great barterers.... while others were silent watchers.
All in all I am very appreciative of my serving of humble pie, I am glad for the lessons learned, to appreciate what I have, to love my family and friends now, life goes way to fast and one day we will be little old people wondering where our life went to, and the struggles and hard times will just be steps along the way.
I know that we are being watched out for daily and that we are led down paths that alone we may not take but in the long run are exactly what we need. Sometimes these paths still may be uphill, but worth the climb. (a side note to this, I am a blog stalker and daily look at a few blogs, one day I was looking at one of my regulars people that I don't know mind you, and I clicked on a new one. It was all about this farm girl who lived in her dream house on a farm and now she had to sell it because her husband had lost his job, her attitude was so great she was thankful for the new adventure she was about to take... why can some people just be so positive and me such a whiny baby??? I do have to say in my defense their are some extenuating circumstances besides just the giant cut in our income that make the job change harder then normal and more then meets the eye! But none the less I will learn what I can from it. Thank Heavens for people out their posting about such things and for a loving God who leads you to read such trivial things!
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