Back to the Good Ole Days

No picture for this post, just a short story...

The other night after we moved in, Vinny went to the next door neighbor to ask about the day of the garbage pick-up. He took Dom with him. When he returned, he said that the lady next door was very elderly, probably senile, had not many teeth, not much furniture, and "I (dena) should make some cookies or something and take them to her."


Since that day, Dominic (our sweet hearted, always thinking of others boy) has made suggestion after suggestion for what we can do for this lady next door. One day he thought we could take her some extra chairs that we had (since we had so many), another day he thought we should take her some of our extra dinner, and yet another day he suggested bringing her some flowers.


Tonight as we were finishing dinner and there was watermelon-a-plenty left, Dominic wanted to take her the watermelon. So our family packed up a plate of Tilapia, Lemon-garlic greenbeans, and watermelon and took it to our next door neighbor...June was her name as we found out.

June was soooo sweet, as her 2 dogs were yapping continuously at her feet in the wheelchair, and I was so happy to stand and chat with her (no matter how much she repeated herself, and I did end up finding out some important things about her) for 20 minutes. She was lonely, and the sight of our family perked her up instantly! She told us how she had told her yardman that "he was handsome, but not as handsome as that principal next door" and how she was a hard-working Scandivanian for many years, and now all she could really partcipate in was her hobbies of "knitting and baking bread, but not fancy bread, it was plain-good bread." She also told us that she has a daughter, and about her...


and that made me sad. I would never want my mom to live by herself, alone, fending for herself with only part of her mind working. I don't want to judge her daughter, but why isn't her daughter doing more? Why doesn't June live with her daughter, or her daughter live closer? Questions, questions...I made a decision...no matter where we find a house to buy here, our family will housecall on June and be there for her. She seemed so alone...I hope someone looks out for me when I am at that stage. So our family will look out for June. If she needs us to pick up something at the store, or mow her lawn, or make her dinner, or change a lightbulb.... we can make a difference...and all because Dominic, our 6 year old, was determined to help her!