Yesterday, I sort of returned to the land of the living! With my home health nurse’s permission, I left our house and went to the Salida Hospital cafeteria for lunch.
I swear, as I made my way down the long, red-carpeted hall leading to the cafeteria, I felt like I was walking the red carpet just like a movie star on Oscar night. The main difference was I wore Walmart jeans, a blue sweater and walking shoes instead of a designer gown and 7-inch heels.
The other difference was the Botox injected two months ago was of no help to me as it was put into my esophagus so nobody could appreciate my wrinkle-free innards!
I have to admit that it felt nice when everyone came over to our table and said they had missed me these last two months I have been ill. Gene has continued to eat there every single day and even brought me something back sometimes.
The entire cafeteria crew have become dear and personal friends to us and let me tell you, we truly appreciate them. When they started clapping as I came in, I felt tears slide down my cheeks. No way did I deserve such treatment.
But I feel like I must confess something here, but please, do NOT tell them I said this. OK, so here is my confession: Knowing ahead of time that I was probably going to show up yesterday, and knowing that my main problem is to gain weight as fast and as safe as I can, they put their heads together to make a soup, thick as possible, with every veggie known to man. Love means fattening me up, no matter what they have to get down my throat.
Well — oh, I hate to say this — I don’t know how they came up with what they called “Chicken Noodle Soup.” Now, it was true there were noodles and pieces of chicken but, beyond that, only God knows what made up the rest of it in that bowl. And what’s worse, they, to the person, were so proud of their “soup for Jean” that every eye in the room watched as I eagerly swallowed spoonful after spoonful.
I truly cannot tell you what was passing through my brain. With every bite, I prayed it would go down and stay down and that my “ohs and ahs” seemed genuine. I mean, these people were the last people I’d want to hurt. I learned that it was amazing what a person can do when necessary and baby, it was necessary to eat that bowl of soup.
So, that is my confession. Nobody got their feelings hurt and everybody hugged me goodbye, absolutely certain they had put a few more needed pounds on my poor ol’ bod. Ya’ know, sometimes ya’ gotta’ do what ya’ gotta’ do, right?
The view from the mountains is wondrous.
