Saturday, April 27, 2013

the 599 mile round trip...

Another 'stay and see Georgia' adventure, wherein I drive the width of the state and back again: almost from coast to coast (if you consider that the Chattahoochee River where it forms the borderline between AL and GA to be the west coast of the state?) I went to Savannah on Thursday afternoon and came back on Friday.

The original plan was that I would go over on Friday morning, and return on Saturday. I wanted to visit an elderly friend who is in nursing care in Savannah, moved several years ago from south GA by her family. She is not anywhere within the realm of what could be considered a 'happy camper'. Probably even more dis-satisfied with her circumstances now, and life in general than she was when she was living in her home, though pretty much house-bound due to declining sight. But she could not help but talk about going 'back home, and thinking of making a escape from the close supervision of nursing attendants and confines of a small room she is forced to live in, with no more than a bed, a couple of chairs, a dresser and chest of drawers. Nothing 'home-y' about it.

After I found myself on the schedule to work on Saturday, I had to alter plans, driving over to spend the night with a friend from years ago, when we were both Presbyterians. I have invited myself to come stay the night with her a couple of times in the past year, and enjoy spending time with her. She is a serious quilter, and has her beautiful art work all over the house, on the beds, decorating the walls, on the table as place mats, pinned to a wall size cork board in her sewing room, where she is assembling the next project. And has two daughters a bit younger than mine, so we have lots of things to talk about.

I was pleasantly surprised that I so adeptly found her house, with only one U-turn. Oh - and she also loves to ride horses, and has one boarded near-by. I went with her on Friday morning to feed and let her horse out of the barn, move into pasture.

Went to visit the friend in nursing home on Friday, and we went out to lunch. Pretty impressed that I only had to make one U-turn to get to the Nursing Home as well. And reluctant to admit how much 'guess-work' was involved in successfully finding it, as I had only been once, and came in from a completely different direction.

She is not mobile, though she says she can walk. I pushed her in her chair across the parking lot, to go to a cafe for lunch, and we had a good visit. She is so chronically dis-pleased with everything about her life, I cannot say the visit was 'enjoyable', but I am glad I went. And was back on the road for the three-and-a-half-hour drive across the state by about 2:00. It was a good, uneventful drive, with a gazillion shades of green showing in the new spring leaves of the trees along the highway.

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