The Other Side

I've been having a lot of fun regaling you with my friend, M.E.'s weird experiences, but I can't help feeling a bit mean, not that anyone has suggested it. You're much too polite. It's just that I don't want anyone to think that she's a raving lunatic.

M.E. is actually a very generous, caring woman who goes through life tilting at windmills. She is five years older than me and, while I barely move around and don't particularly like to leave the house, she is like the Energizer Bunny, up and out every day.

Her husband died when they were in their forties, leaving her with a house on about an acre of land and three teenagers, one, a girl, in her first year of college and two boys still in high school. M.E. is an R.N. and worked as the only school nurse for the entire school district. She had an office in the high school, but was often called to one of the other schools. She supervised all of the hearing and vision testing with the help of a handful of mothers who volunteered. She checked for head lice alone.

On Friday and Saturday nights, about twice a month, she worked at the local hospital on the 11 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift.

With the aid of her late husband's Social Security, bank loans and various part time jobs, all three kids finished their educations. Her daughter is a teacher, one son is an engineer and the other son is a doctor.

Summers, she continued to work the night shift at the hospital about five nights a month and enjoyed playing golf. As my bridge partner, she drove me nuts because she didn't bother to bid correctly. Playing bridge was simply the price she had to pay for an evening out with the "girls." I lived for thirty years in the vain hope that one day her natural competitiveness would kick in and she'd be compelled to learn the rules. Never happened.

After she retired from the school system, she continued to work at the hospital, but she never slowed down. Her new-found free time was spend doing volunteer work and taking care of her property. She has painted every room in her house numerous times over the years. She's an excellent seamstress and periodically makes all new window treatments, throw pillows, etc. for her house and, her daughter's. If you drive by in the summer, you're likely to see her bumping along on her riding mower, weed-eating or trimming shrubs.

She spends a day a week at one of the nursing homes and bowls in two bowling leagues. She is the most curious person I have ever met, and can ask two dozen questions in one breath none of which I can't answer. She thinks nothing of loading her dog into her car and driving to Little Rock or Dallas to see her kids and grand-kids. And, have I mentioned that she paints beautiful water-colors?

So, I think she can be forgiven a few quirks that she is quick to laugh about along with me. I just thank God she doesn't own a computer. If she did, she might be writing a blog about all of my many eccentricities.

Stay tuned.