American Lifestyles
American life that is still moving, quite slowly
Miss Peggy also would send me pictures of her daily life, her friends, her home in the country and her dog.
And then she would mention of some of my friends and how she knew them and when I asked where she worked, she knew all the details.
We talked a few hours and when she went to work, I realized that I had been here long enough to be charged.
The conversation on the verge of taking me over the limits of my cell phone allotment, so I politely put her on hold and said I would call her back.
I did call later and we had another good time, laughing and remembering things that were fun to remember.
She also let me know that she didn't remember my name, but knew that I had a daughter.
She also told me that her mother and aunt had come to visit her and they were going to take her out to dinner to celebrate.
My eyes bugged out.
I never got to meet these people who came to visit.
But I knew who they were, of course.
I asked her who they were.
She said one was named Linda and the other one was Nellie.
When I asked if I knew these people, she explained that her mother, my friend who passed away.
American lifestyle so very different from other countries where getting help can take days, or even weeks.
And that our health care is so much better than other countries, but it is still very difficult to get any help, especially if your need is not an emergency.
If you fall and you can't get up without help, even an ambulance, you can wait for days before anyone helps you.
Some basic knowledge about basic needs and medications is not taught in schools.
And while it may be covered in the basic material in some countries, not everyone knows how to find this information.
And not everyone has this knowledge.
As the days go by I realize that people need to understand that nothing is free, at least in the way that we think it is.
Our pay check is usually what we need to live on and if we need some extra money, we have to get a job to make this happen.
Our health care is no exception.
Even though we can't seem to get anything figured out here, I continue to keep up my visits with my friend and her son.
It's a ritual for me, one that started many years ago when I first started seeing her.
I take her to lunch, and the highlight is her using her drive through window at a Burger King to order her lunch.
It's always a hit and we laugh and enjoy each other's company.
So today I will clean up my life, and make a plan to go out to see her.
I will update you on what happens.
There's a chance that we will have a visit with my other friend that I wrote about last week.
It would be my first time to meet her.
If not, I'll visit her on Monday and make a new appointment to see her again.
And maybe I'll get to see my friend Peggy, the one with the pink house.
Who knows what the future may bring.
But at least I have started to put my life back together.
American Daily Routine
This, my friend, is the most iconic picture of the most iconic American holiday in the world.
In case you’ve not seen it, check it out. It’s also incredibly sexist.
This Monday, after some much needed R&R, I returned to real life. Most of the politics is temporarily upstaged by a mixture of spring break post-surfing mayhem and the blissfully mindless news. But one tweet I couldn’t un-hear (or un-blog) took my breath away and sparked an entire mental conversation:
There is an energy in the air. Every day is about breaking the glass ceiling for women, women are starting to fly.
0 Comments