The nursing home

With each day, i find myself stumbling upon a new person residing in the nursing home of which i am employed. With each person, I stumble upon a new story, a new life that has been lived. I am so anxious to share their stories with the world. At night, as I fall asleep I reimagine the events that took place, and the person it shaped and molded. Being that some of these people have mental illnessess, I cannot attest to how true and accurate the tellings are, but they still hold a unique beauty and wonder that cannot be argued. I want to tell those stories here...keeping the owner's identies secret, and entering my own thoughts and imaginings in places that holes lay or lie.

Ill start with my best old friend. In here, I will refer to her as Jenny. Jenny was married to a man for 18 years and had a child with him. One christmas day, Jennys husband told her he wanted a divorce and that he was having an affair and leaving to be with that woman. Jenny was heartbroken and devastated. She had been the typical housewive of the 50's and 60's. She considered her husband to be the love of her life. How could this man have been having an affair?
But Jenny survived. She even fell in love again to a wonderful man who was all the things her previous husband never even could dream of being. Jenny was with this man for 16 years. They lived together but never married. Jenny said he asked her every day to marry him, and every day she would say no....although she says he felt like more of a husband that her first marriage.
I'll finish her story later....

In two days I am leaving for Seattle. Im so excited to see a new place. I cannot wait to see a fish market and watch people toss fish to each other as though it was an acrobatic act. I can imagine the smell of fish and sea salt already.
From Seattle I am headed to Myrtle Beach with my father's family. Its the annual event. I havent participated in quite a few years and was fortunate enough to be able to take time off to attend this year. It will most likely be the last time. Since in exactly one year from now, after 5 wonderful years, I will be a college graduate, and entering a new world of adult living. Scary. Exciting. Bittersweet to think about....