A Day With The Elderly

Usually on the weekends I do absolutely nothing. I’ve been doing a lot this semester so I try to take advantage of any free time that I may have.

It seems I can never be satisfied though. I complain about being busy, yet when I’m free, I wish I was being productive.

A week ago I made good use of my weekend and went with a friend to help her out with her “job.” By the end of the day, I’m glad I went to help her out.

My friend takes care of an elderly couple. She shops for their groceries, feeds their birds in the backyard and does other mundane chores. I wasn’t too keen on helping out with this kind of stuff, especially since I can’t even complete my own household chores.

Before we left to go to Nina and Kearney’s house (the elderly couple), my friend told me to bring my laptop with me. Kearny had a CD with old pictures he wanted to show us so I brought it along. No biggie.

Their house is an average looking home with a garage and large windows. The roof is flat and the entire structure is made of white brick. My friend and I walked up the wheelchair ramp to the door and greeted the couple. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure what to say.

Nina is French and speaks in a really thick accent. I was pleased to find out that she spoke Spanish and lived in Spain for a while. She was familiar with some of the cities I’ve been to when I lived in Spain: Rota, Cadiz, Jerez, Sevilla…

Kearney is American and he walks around the house with a cane. He argues with Nina a lot and it’s hilarious to see them go at each other’s throats. Despite the arguing, you can clearly tell that they love each other, especially when Kearney hums in French to Nina.

We viewed pictures with Nina and Kearney and I was amazed at the quality of the photos. Some of them went back to the 1920s. There were men in suits looking like they were ready to go swing dancing, women in fancy hats at social gatherings and photos of vintage cars.

Nina and Kearney knew a woman named Mimi who used to be the oldest dependent of Pensacola. Nina said that Mimi always loved wearing large, fancy hats. We saw a few pictures of Mimi on the CD, she looked like a really classy lady.

After doing some chores for the two and feeding the birds in the backyard, Nina told me about how people used to adore America before Vietnam. She said it was a different time and a different place. She was obsessed with the American Dream and now it just kind of withered away.

“America isn’t what it used to be,” she said.

Before I knew it, the sun was going down and it was time to go. I gave Kearney a handshake and gave Nina a hug before leaving. I told myself I would be back. I would love to get to know these people and hear their story.