Repeat Performance

by

littleOneWon

Moving:

My wife, Leslie, and I have been retired for three years. Before retirement, our life together had been rather mundane. I can't make that statement about us now.

I'm aware now that the pot had begun boiling before Leslie retired, but I didn't know about it back then.

At the time of our retirement, I was 71 years old and she was 66. For the first year of our retirement, we stayed in our family home in northeast Kansas. It was comforting to have our son and daughter-in-law visit us at the old homestead.

David and his wife, Joy, slept in David's old room during their visits. When little Jane came along ten years ago, the guest bedroom became her room. She is our treasure. She's the center of our universe.

The kids lived in Lawrence, which is about an hour's drive from our house. We saw each other at least once a month. Sometimes, they came to see us, but more often we drove down to see them. When Jane had school performances or other special events, we made sure that we were on the front row!

David and Joy were both teachers at KU. They were both professors, but we couldn't bring ourselves to call either one of them professor Morgan. To us, they were just David and Joy. Jane was loving school and participating in many extracurricular activities, including sports.

During our working years, I wrote a weekly column for a national magazine. I didn't get rich, but I made a good living doing something that I liked to do.

Leslie spent most of her working years as a Welcome Wagon lady. She enjoyed welcoming new residents to the city. She was always a people person, and she had the perfect personality for the job.

As time went along and she moved up in the organization, she had less contact with the new residents and more dealings with the businesses that donated products for Welcome Wagon to distribute to the newcomers. She was good at that part of the job too, but she missed the direct contact with the new residents. She had five women working as Welcome Wagon greeters, but she always made time in her schedule to personally greet at least one of the new families each month. That was still her favorite part of Welcome Wagon.

There wasn't much money to be made in her job, even when she finally became the head of the organization. She wasn't able to contribute much to the family finances, but she was busy and happy. Since I did my job from home, her being away during the day also gave me some quiet time to get my writing done.

I was really surprised when she decided to take her Social Security on the very first day that she became eligible. Every time I asked her about it, she just said that she'd finally burned out. She was ready to pack it in and pursue some hobbies that she'd been neglecting through the years. She wanted to do some quilting, some gardening, and get back to playing the piano.

Somehow, deep inside, I wasn't sure that she was leveling with me about why she wanted to retire, but I couldn't get her to change her story no matter how many different ways I asked the question.

It was then that I decided that I was tired of meeting deadlines every week. Perhaps this was the time that I should relax and begin writing those novels that I thought would be my purpose in life when I graduated from the William Allen White School of Journalism at KU. That was before I realized that a weekly income was a good thing and those novels would have to be placed on the back burner. They had stayed on the back burner ever since.

After spending a couple of weeks listening to Leslie straining to master a few songs on her new piano, I knew that I was through meeting deadlines. So, retirement, here I am. I'll start writing my novel in between Leslie's piano sessions. Just that suddenly, we were a retired couple.

Our comfortable life changed dramatically at the beginning of our second year of retirement. David was offered a supervisory position at Baylor University. It would mean quite a jump in salary. They sweetened the deal by also offering Joy a good position. While the kids were apprehensive about working at a new university, they were happy at the prospect of getting out of the harsh Kansas winters. Living in the sunbelt would be a pleasant change, weather-wise. While this was good news for them, it wasn't so good for us. The promotion meant that our kids would be living in Waco, Texas. That's a long drive from our place.

We helped them move to Texas in March. When the move was completed and everyone had kissed goodbye, we headed back to Kansas. We were in tears. It was one of the saddest days that Leslie and I had ever faced.

Life wasn't the same without those visits from the kids. They felt the same way and were pressuring us to move to Texas. Phoning, texting, and Skyping didn't help all that much. We were not happy campers.

We made a trip to Texas in May. We did some serious house hunting. We lucked out and found just what we were looking for near Temple, which was a quick trip down I-35 from Waco. It would be nice to be even closer to our kids than we had been in Kansas.

The kids helped us as much as they could with our move to Texas. We were all happy to be together again.

Leslie and I spent a week or so in the Starlight Motel while we waited for our furniture to arrive and be placed in our new house. I remember that motel because we were staying on the third floor and we had an excellent view of a beautiful lake from our window. I even remember our room number. It was 321. I remember Leslie laughing and telling me that we finally had a room number that we could remember. She was right!

We were one of the first couples to move into the Golden Years development. We have some great walking trails nearby and there are sidewalks throughout the community. We have always tried to walk a couple of miles every day. That was difficult to do during the Kansas winters. It will be much easier to do here in central Texas.

There were, of course, some bumps in the road. We had some trouble finding new doctors and getting our cars (and us) licensed. The biggest problem, however, was when a deer hit our car during our second week as Golden Years residents. We were almost completely stopped and the deer just ran right into our car. We had spent many years in the heart of Kansas deer country without a single deer encounter. Here we were with a deer calamity during our first month in Texas!

The deer ran away and didn't appear to be hurt. Our car, however, was hurt. They ended up replacing the front fender and a door panel on the passenger's side. Oh boy, what a start!

After we got settled into our new house, things started returning to normal. I began writing again while Leslie spent her time organizing everything and decorating our new house. It was the first brand new house for us. It was a challenge to find a fit for our old stuff in the new house. We bought some new furniture that went well with what we brought from Kansas. Leslie handled all of that and did a fantastic job. I was proud of her.

Did we miss our old home? Yes, we did. Was it worth it? Sure, we were close to the kids again.

Let me say right now that I expected to face some surprises associated with our new location and new house. What I didn't expect was that most of the surprises were going to come from my wife of 50 years.

The first surprise was when she sold her piano. She'd advertised it on Craig's List without saying anything to me about it. One day, some movers showed up at our door. Leslie watched while they loaded the piano into their truck. I asked her if she sold it because she thought it bothered me for her to practice when I was writing. She said that wasn't the case. She just decided that she would rather have an electronic keyboard. As of today, she hasn't bought a keyboard.

Old Problem:

My next surprise happened while I was writing. My nose noticed a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen. I took a break to check it out. I found dozens of freshly-baked coconut macaroons on the kitchen table. I could see more cookies baking in the oven. As I watched, Leslie was busy with her cookie press placing additional beautifully designed cookies on a large cookie sheet.

At first, I thought she was making enough to give some to the kids, but now I could see that she could start her own bakery with this many cookies.

"Hey, what's up with all the cookies, babe?

"Hi, honey, how's the writing going?"

"Going good, Les. How's the baking going? More importantly, why is the baking going? Have you lost your mind or are you just going crazy? That's a lot of cookies, gal."

"Well, Gregg, I've decided to kind of get back into the Welcome Wagon business. I'm doing it on my own this time. Just me baking some cookies and taking them to the new Golden Years residents. I talked to Kerry down at the sales office and he's going to give me the names and addresses of the new buyers as soon as they close on their houses. He's very supportive of my idea. He's given me the names of 15 newcomers that have bought since we did. It will take me several days to get cookies to this first group, but from then on, I'll get the names every week and it will be easier. I've really missed greeting new residents, Gregg. This is my thing and I love doing it."

"So, when were you going to tell me about this, Les?

"Well, I just told you."

"Yeah, after you've baked enough cookies to feed the whole neighborhood and made arrangements with Kerry. What's happened to the communications between us? Are you upset with me for some reason, Les?"

"No, Gregg. Not at all. I was just afraid that you would try to talk me out of doing this. You didn't understand why I decided to quit doing it in Kansas. You wondered aloud about why I chose to retire. How could you possibly understand why I want to start it up again here in Texas? I just thought you would tell me not to do it."

"Leslie, when have I ever told you not to do something. We've always been a team. I helped you with Welcome Wagon projects back in Kansas. You know that. Why would it be different here? Why can't we be a team here?"

"I don't know, Gregg. That's just how I felt. I guess it's related to why I had to quit in Kansas. That's all I can think of."

"Why did you decide to quit, Les? You never did let me in on that. What happened in Kansas?"

"I'll tell you someday, Gregg, when I have the strength to do it. I'm not ready yet. I'll tell you soon. As of now, please just let me do this cookie thing."

"Of course, by all means. Do it, Les. You know that I'll support anything that you decide to do. It's not like you to mistrust me this way. I wish you would tell me what I've done to lose your trust."

"You didn't do anything, Gregg, I did something. I corrected it, but I'm a different person. I know that you see it. Please give me some time. I'll tell you all about it when I can."

"Ok, Les, I'm confused and disappointed, but I'm trying to understand.

"Thanks, Gregg. Well, I'd better start down my address list and deliver some cookies. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll have my cell with me. Give me a call if you need anything. I'll let you know how it's going."

"OK, gal. Go do your good deed for the day. Be careful, who knows what evil lurks out there?"

"I think these are good people, Gregg. I'll keep in touch."

Time went by. I never heard a word from Les. She came back home five hours later. She seemed tired but happy. She didn't have much to say about how it went. She used to tell me everything. Now she tells me as little as possible. She insists that nothing is wrong. Yeah, right.

As the weeks ticked by, she continued to do her cookie thing. She was getting about three new houses per week. She did her greeting right after lunch on Wednesdays. It usually took her about two hours. As usual, she didn't have much to say about it.

When we went out anywhere in town or went walking on the trails, we almost always ran into residents that knew and appreciated her. It was evident that she was doing a really good job and was earning the respect of all the new residents. She just didn't talk much about it. At least, not to me.

The next surprise was when she came home one afternoon and wanted to talk to me about a new couple in the neighborhood, Molly and Hector Greely. She'd just met them a few hours ago. Molly was in the late stages of dementia and Hector was her caregiver. Leslie stated that she felt sorry for them. They were barely able to make their house payment, so Molly's care fell to Hector on a full-time basis. He couldn't afford respite care even for just a few hours a week. He didn't get any breaks from caregiving, and it was taking a severe toll on him.

Molly was just pretty much out of it. She didn't recognize her children when they visited. It wasn't for certain that she even recognized Hector. It was a bad situation. Their house was a mess. Leslie had cleaned it up as best she could and even ran a load or two through the washing machine to help out. They were living on TV dinners and other frozen food items since Hector had no cooking skills.

Leslie said she wanted to visit them again and wondered if I would be able to accompany her on that visit. There were problems with several items in the house that should still be under warranty. Hector didn't have the gumption to follow up on those problems. She thought that, perhaps, I could help with that while she tried to help with food preparation and housecleaning. I agreed to go with her, but I did tell her that as bad as it was, it wasn't our problem.

It was at that point that she sat in her chair and began to cry. "Gregg, do you remember the case of Linda and Evan Monroe, back in Kansas?"

"The names seem familiar, but I don't really remember them. Refresh my memory, Les."

"Well, Linda and Evan had just moved to a small apartment. It wasn't much, but it was a place where they could get by on Social Security. As you know, I always chose to act as a greeter for at least one family per month, even though it was no longer in my job description. As fate would have it, Linda and Evan were the ones that I happened to find myself greeting that ill-fated month.

"I was appalled when I entered their apartment. It was a complete mess. Linda wasn't able to function at all. She had no control over her bodily functions. Poor Evan was completely beside himself. He did the best that he could, even though Linda was hard to handle. He cared for her gently and with unwavering patience; even when she yelled at him and was uncooperative.

"He kept telling me that I wasn't seeing his Linda. I was seeing her disease. He said she'd been the mildest and gentlest of God's creatures until that disease struck her. She wasn't herself anymore, but somewhere deep within her, that person still existed. That's what he was always looking for. He cared for her night and day. He was completely worn out.

"Their children lived in Florida and were not able to help much. They sent a few dollars when they could. They even came to see her once, but they couldn't take it. They just couldn't handle seeing their mom that way. Evan understood and he never said a harsh word about their children.

"I spent nine hours that day trying to help Evan clean up the apartment, get some laundry done, and try to get Linda to calm down. I made a trip to the market to buy groceries to help them get by. I purchased things that I knew Evan could prepare. I spent several hundred dollars out of my own pocket, but when I left, I felt like I hadn't made even a small dent in what they needed.

"The next day I spent some time pleading with various department heads at the courthouse. I talked to anyone and everyone that had the power and purview to help the Monroe family. I made sure that all of them knew how bad things were for Linda and Evan. I don't think that Linda knew how bad things were, but poor Evan did. He knew.

"As usual, things got busy and it was a couple of weeks before I had the time to go back to their apartment. I wanted to check on them and make sure that the responsible agencies were giving them the help they needed. I decided to drive up to see them on Friday before we left on our trip to Lawrence to see the kids.

"Just as I was about to leave my office, Sherriff Murphey knocked on my door. He gave me the shattering news that Evan had killed Linda and then took his own life. He'd left a note. He said he couldn't watch Linda suffer anymore. Also, he was at the end of his rope. He mentioned me in his note. He said that I was the only person that had tried to help him. None of the people that I'd talked to at the county seat had even contacted him. How could everyone drop the ball after what I'd told them? I was mad as hell. I was disappointed in myself. I guess I found out that a Welcome Wagon lady didn't count for much with the powers-that-be.

"Honey, I believe that I'd been sent to that house for a purpose, and I'd failed miserably. That very day, I decided it was time for me to hang it up. That's why I took my Social Security. That's what I couldn't tell you. I couldn't deal with how much I had failed a couple that I was meant to help.

"Now, I feel like I've been given another chance. This time I have to make sure I help, even if it means doing it by myself. This time I must make a difference. I'm not going to rely on other people and government agencies anymore. This time it will be my duty to avoid a disaster like what happened before."

"Leslie, I'm glad that you finally told me what caused you to give up your life-long cause back in Kansas. I think, however, that you're taking blame that doesn't belong on your shoulders. Having said that, I'll be happy to visit Hector and Molly with you and to assist you in helping them in any way that I can. I'm glad that you're letting me into your life again, and just like always, you can count on me."

New Problem:

On Tuesday after lunch, I went with Leslie to visit with Hector and Molly. Everything was pretty much the way Leslie had indicated. Molly seemed to be completely out of it. She was mostly unresponsive, but when she did respond it was loud and vitriolic.

Hector seemed to be completely out of his element. It seemed to me that he'd just given up.

I tried to carry on a conversation with Hector. Leslie had mentioned that the Greely's were fellow Kansans. They had lived in Wichita, where Hector was a paralegal and Molly was a secretary. My attempt at having a conversation about Kansas didn't get much response from Hector.

While Leslie was busy serving them lunch and doing some general cleanup, I began to look into the problems they were having with the house.

Leslie had told me that their dryer wasn't doing a good job. The clothes came out damp. Upon checking it out, I noticed that the vent hose was badly pinched. I took it off, straightened it out, and reconnected it. That did the trick.

I made a call to the warranty number to schedule service on their dishwasher, which was leaking a little around the door. Then I scheduled maintenance on the microwave, which was making a funny noise. I was on the phone for about five minutes, maximum. I thought to myself that Hector could have and should have done it himself.

When we got home, Leslie began to talk about how bad the situation was with the Greely's. Every time she was at their house, she had a deeper feeling that she'd been called to help them. She asked if I could understand why she needed to help them, after seeing how bad things were.

I told her that I felt very sorry for Molly. I wouldn't want to live in her condition. I just couldn't imagine how it would be to live that way.

Leslie said that it was just as bad, if not worse, for Hector. Molly didn't know what was going on, but Hector had to live with a horrible situation day and night.