Life there is not great for her. She rarely goes outside, and although she walks about with a walker, she is not very mobile. A couple of years ago the facility moved her away from her friends on the first floor, on up to the second floor; that was a million miles away from her delicate social circle. (...continued)
Her health care and her long term stay in the facility is funded by you and me. Medicaid picks up the tab for her daily room and board, her medications, and any special tests she may need. Thank you. This has been going on for almost 10 years. Ms Trawler thanks you too.
Her single room is shared with 3 other ladies in various stages of decline. They come and go, hooked and unhooked to various machines, but Ms Trawler stays. And keeps staying. With no privacy to speak of, she has permanently swallowed her pride a long time ago. One bathroom for all four.
So I asked her if she had been able to vote in the election last week.
Yes, of course. They wheeled us down to the basement and we all voted. We always vote.
Ms Trawler is an 83 year old white woman. She grew up in an all white neighborhood where newly arrived Italians lived side by side with immigrant Poles and other Eastern Europeans in Chicago's West Town Neighborhood. Later, Hispanics moved in. She always remarked at how much the neighborhood had changed.
Thus, it surprised me when she told me she had voted for Mr. Obama.
Why, I asked?
Well, he reminds me of why I voted for Jack Kennedy. His family reminds me of Jack Kennedy, his beautiful wife and those two adorable girls. And he's so smart. Everyone else there voted Obama too.
Her choice seemed color blind, from her dreary bed in a musty long term care facility in Chicago. A landslide there for Obama.
END OF POST. Thank you for reading.
2 comments:
That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your comment, the first one ever on this web log!
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