A shoulder to lean on

I know I have been gone awhile so I should tell you that we were affected by Hurricane Sandy here in a big way.The municipality I work for is one of the ones that has been all over the news because of the devastation. I will tell you more about it and share some pictures in another blog. today I want to tell you about one individual I dealt with. I will call her Mrs. H. to protect her identity.

Mrs. H is a 70 year old widow who's house was severely damaged by the flood created by Hurricane Sandy. I met her last year after Hurricane Irene and had not seen her since. Last time her house was damaged but she had made repairs and had resumed her life. This time the damage is so bad that the house is collapsing and needs to be demolished. Mrs. H. has moved in with her daughter around the corner for now.

Earlier today the daughter came in to my office to find out what needed to happen before the house could be bull dozed. She is concerned because her mom has been sneaking back to the house, crawling over the debri and going inside just to lay on her bed. I can not even begin to tell you how dangerous the house is for her to be near it let alone inside of it. I agreed to go to the house and then stop by and speak to her mom.

I went to the house this afternoon and looked at the devastation. It was worse than I remembered. I knew I had to find a way to convince Mrs H that she needed to stay out. But, I also understood why she was doing it. She wanted to go "home." It is a house she bought with her husband 40 years ago. She raised her kids there. She still had everyone over on Sunday's for dinner. Her husband passed away several years ago but, she has maintained the house ever since. Standing outside the home I could see the kitchen. On the fridge was a family picture, a heart that said "World's Greatest Grandma" and a silver angel magnet. I grabbed my boots, my heard hat, and a flash light and proceeded to climb over the rubble that was once this poor woman's entire life. I took the things off the fridge and put them in my pocket. Looking back the house looked even worse and I knew that my going inside was not too smart. I slowly made my way back outside to safety. With the things I took in my pocket, I drove to the daughter's house.

I sat and talked to Mrs H for close to an hour. I listened as she told me why she went back. I let her tell me stories about the house and the memories she had of the life there. And I cried with her when she told me that she prayed that the house would fall on her and take her from this world. I have been told that I am very serious and all business at work. I wonder what people would have thought if they saw me there. As Mrs. H continued to tell me more, I handed her the items I brought for her. I told her that the angel watched over her while she was there but, now the angel was in her daughter's house and she needed to let the angel protect her there. She then told me about how the flood waters had actually washed a lot of her family pictures and the statue of the Virgin Mary all the way up the street to her daughter's driveway. I explained that if the Virgin Mary knew it was safer to move, then she should believe her. Mrs. H smiled and pondered that for awhile. I think she sees the sign.

As I left I gave Mrs. H a hug and made her promise me to stay out of the house. I told her I wanted to come hear more stories some time and she could be my adopted grandmother. I also made her promise not to tell my mom that since my mom is actually 2 years older than her.

I take my job seriously. I am to protect lives. Does not matter who it is. What they believe. What they have or do not have. They are all the same. Sometimes it means I have to step outside my immediate job, put down the hard had and the clip board and just listen.......

These are 2 pics of Mrs. H's home. This does not even do it justice. It is worse in person.

OMG I forgot I had a blog!

It appears that senility is getting the better of me. I totally forgot I even had a blog until about 5 minutes ago. It seems I have missed quite a few posts from all of you. I may never catch up. Uhg.....

I would love to blame it on the fact that I have been working between 70 - 80 hours a week since Hurricane Sandy hit here but, that would not explain the months between my last post and the storm.

I am sure I deserve some sort of punishment for neglecting my readers. What is your pleasure? Public flogging? Community service time? Donations to charity? A personal note of apology in your email? Be gentle on me. I promise to try harder.

Stay tuned.......

Nothing like molesting strange men

Today being President's Day I was off for the holiday. And since I have been promising to take my daughter in to NYC to the American Girl Doll store, today was the day. We caught the train in around mid morning and walked the 18 blocks up to the store. It was a nice walk, despite my being sick as a dog. After that store it was off to the Nintendo store so my son could spend some of his money. That was followed by a nice lunch at Planet Hollywood in Times Square. We enjoyed a nice lunch before heading back to catch the train home.

Since it was about another 12 blocks back I hit the mens room before we left the restaurant. Upon exiting the restroom I saw my daughter standing and looking at a picture on the wall. As I walked by her I put my hand out to tickle her waist and tell her "Come on, let's go" I guess I should have looked closer as I walked by because I missed her and instead grabbed a middle aged hispanic man. To make matters worse he was a bit taller than my daughter so what I ended up grabbing was this man's left butt cheek. Needless to say he was a bit shocked. I certainly was too. I think he was in too much shock to even say anything. I gave him a quick apology and made a bee-line for the door.

Needless to say, my wife has been hysterical laughing all day since. I doubt I will be living this one down anytime soon!

37 Years later I have found closure

After 37 years I finally got to say goodbye. If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know that I lost a friend when I was younger. I was 11. Bobby was 10. He was hit and killed by a truck on Feb. 5, 1975. I never got to say goodbye. I was shielded by my parents. They meant well but, it created problems for me in the years since. I finally found his sister through Facebook about a year ago and she gave me the info I needed.

Today I made the 90 minute trip to the cemetery where Bobby was laid to rest. I went alone to seek out the peace I have longed for all these years. Despite the cold I sat there for almost 2 hours talking to my friend. Filling him in on my life. Telling him how much I regret that he missed out on so much. I really had expected this to be a day filled with tears but, it has not been. I did get really choked up a few times and I was ready to let go but the tears just never came. I left there with a sense of peace. A sense of happiness.

Time will tell if this changes my life at all but, for now I finally got to say good bye to my friend. I know I will go back. Next time Bobby's sister will meet me there. I love and miss you greatly my friend........

Last Sunday, my mom ended up in the hospital. She was having major headaches and nausea. My first thought was the flu. At 71 years old it is obviously something to be worried about. The thing is mom has had a flu shot and she has neurological issues to begin with. She has dementia. The doctors ran a series of tests that came back normal. Including a cat scan. Yet they decided to keep her overnight so they could at least treat the symptoms. Since the hospital was over crowded she was stuck in the emergency room. Not exactly the best place to rest. By Tuesday we thought for sure she would be home. Instead they finally moved her into a regular room All this time they still have no idea why she had the headaches. They finally released her early Wednesday. We figured this was good news.

Thursday night I got home from work exhausted. My back and legs hurt. I decided I was going to relax in a nice hot bath. I had just settled in. The water was warm and I just started to play Fruit ninja on my phone. I heard a knock on the door but figured my son was downstairs so he could get it. Suddenly I heard my father's frantic voice saying he needed a phone to call for an ambulance. That seemed odd to me since my parents live about 5 miles east of me. They do have a phone at the house and they both have cell phones. I climbed out of the tub, got dressed and went outside to see what was up. My mom was in the truck shaking and crying about the pains in her head. Apparently they were not happy with the hospital so they drove to my house so the ambulance would take them to the other hospital. I drove dad over in his truck. They again did tests on mom, treated her and released her. Still finding nothing.

Well, this morning yet again she went back to the hospital. Same thing. Treat and release. this time my sister took a family friend that is a nurse with them to ask questions. I am still waiting to hear what happened there. I could call and ask my mom I suppose but with the dementia she never remembers the answers anyway. I sure hope they figure this out soon.

Lost in Translation

Every once in awhile you come across things that leave you wondering. Take the following store front in Japan. With so many English speaking people in Japan, I guess they wanted to make their point? The only thing I can think of is they tried to use a Google Translator!

 (Yes this is real. lmao!)