War Stories

One of my favorite things about working in nursing homes, as a CNA, had to be getting to know the folks you take care of. If I could have a job purely made up of sitting and talking to them, listening to their stories, and looking though old pictures, in my opinion, I'd have an amazing job. They've seen things we'll never get the opportunity to witness. They grew up in a different time and definatly were raised differently than us. Annnnd, I love the 40's. It is hands down my favorite era. I love everything, from the hats and dress, hand wrote love letters, the way they spoke, the hardwork and determination, the stars in the windows, and black and white photos. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorite war stories from a couple of them. One was a little Indian lady. She was a firecracker to say the least. In fact, the only reason she liked me is because she thought I was alot more Native American, than I actually am. She had a black and white service like photo of her in her white nurse hat and dress. So I asked her about it. She said she had been a nurse during WWII. The lady I was on rounds with chimed in, "Tell her the story!". So she told me about the day there were a couple of Japanese men in the tree, shooting into their makeshift hospital full of injured soldiers. Without a bit of remorse in her voice she said, "So I grabbed a gun and I shot one of those sons'a bitches out of the tree. I watched him drop dead.". I took a pretty big risk and asked her everything that came to my head. Were you not scared? Does it haunt you? Do you feel bad about it?...Looking back those were probably all inappropriate things to say. But she didn't seem to mind. She explained she had no time to be scared and it was her duty to protect and save the men there that day. I'll never forget what she said next, "It was him or me. I will never regret that I am the one alive today.". She did admit that she still knows exactly what his face looked like. And I will admit that I am questioning weather or not this is an inappropriate story to tell. But I figure the men and women who have and do fight for our country, well some of them have heavier burdens they carry. One of my cousins once told me the reason why he serves is so the people he loves will never have to bear witness to the horrors of war. My next and last story is much more lighthearted. It's a love story of a couple I had the opportunity to take care of. Both were short, with hunches in their backs, and had hair that had faded to white through out the years. I hadn't ever taken care of a couple that were actually in a home together. It didn't take long to see how much they still loved each other. When you would see him pushing her down the halls and to dinner in her wheelchair they'd be laughing and smiling. When he stopped he would rest his hand on her shoulder and she would place hers over his, patting it. They sat watching tv holding hands, and every night before i helped them into bed they'd kiss and say I love you's. He would have you help him to her bedside for just one more kiss and wouldn't take his hearing aid out until he heard one last goodnight. One night while assisting him in to the shower he told me how he met his third son, who had visited that afternoon. During WWII he was in the Navy stationed in California, while he was awaiting his deployment. During this time, back in Oklahoma, his wife had their son two weeks before he was set to leave for war. So with two older boys and a week old baby she made the drive to suprise him with their newest addition. He said when he saw them all he couldn't help but cry. He had feared it would be years before he'd meet him, or worse that he never would. When we returned to the room we talked briefly about it. Her face lit up reliving that memory. She even confessed that her sons still had all the letters he had wrote from the ship he was stationed. That's probably my favorite love story...ecspecially after having rode in the car by myself with two girls who hate their carseats(even though carseats aren't something she probably had to deal with) on two-three hour drives. I can't imagine a solo drive from OK to CA, :)but I suppose when you love someone distance doesn't really matter. These stories aren't much, but the people who told them were wonderful people. People who at one point brightened my day just by being in their presence. I don't know where they are, how they are doing, or if they are still living but these stories are my (late) Veteran's Day tribute to them.

:)

One thing that Bobby and I have in common, is oddly enough, we enjoy fixing up our houses. We will always drive by a house in need of some deep TLC, turn to each other and say "Oh! We should buy that house!". I, of course, am not the muscle of the operation. I mostly texture and chose the colors and paint, and help where needed. Bobby though is very handy. Recently, I've been most impressed with his first time of laying tile. He did our laundry room, kitchen, and master bath. They were complete with decorative entries. Now we have moved on to our dreaded front bathroom(pic can be found in my very 1st blog entry). Our plan, we hope, is to have it done by Friday. We have pulled out everything but the bathtub and will be replacing all the rest. So far we've started ripping off the tile, texturing, and builing up the wall so we can add a shower. I'm really excited to finally get this done...And we picked out a color I've been wanting to use FOREVER. I've got to say I think both of our favorite things is seeing the transformation of something run down into something that reflects both of our styles. Hopefully, soon I'll be posting pics of our complete front bath...until then here's a few "in the making" pics.








Buh-bye nasty tile!