"Don’t Get Old"

Ms P came to us from Cape Breton, and each time she uses the van we talk about “home”. She seems to relax. But if you look into her face as she makes her way to the van or glance as she sits in the passenger seat, she shows signs of age and sadness. When she enters or leaves the van slowly or with the need for assistance she looks at me with those mid-eighty-year old eyes and says “Don’t get old, Paul”. There was one occasion that I helped her cope with her loneliness. She had wanted to see the ocean and missed the water, so I offered to take her to a park bench at Point Pleasant Park. She said she needed time to inhale the fresh air and think, and, the harbor was just the thing. I remember driving away that day and looking in my rear view mirror seeing this fine little lady sitting all alone on that bench looking over the vast harbor and looking so sad. Empathetic, I try to take her places that get her away from the four walls that close in on her daily. Lately she has been losing her sight but still came out on a Christmas Lights tour.