This afternoon Joy and I entered the hospital and
immediately were hit with the smell of burning pine. We passed a small altar of purple cloth with
fruit and a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross. They were celebrating Via de Cruces and were going
through the stations of the cross. About
20 patients in wheel chairs and walkers went to 14 stations were they stopped
to remember the crucifixion of Christ and to pray through the Lord’s
prayer. I had a hard time tolerating the
smoke that was pouring out of the pot of burning pine and I don’t imagine it
would be good for the Abuelitas either.
Nidia is only 25 years old yet she lives with the little
grandmothers. She is wheelchair bound
has limited use of her fingers, but her mind is very sharp and she even knows a
little English. Joy drew a picture and
Nidia squealed in delight when she received it.
Meal time came and Nidia asked me to just get her a plantain. I encouraged her to eat more because she
would have to wait about 15 hours until her next meal, but she assured me that
she would be fine because she has a stash of juice and cookies. I got her the plantain and was helping to
feed her. I looked into her deep brown
eyes and commented, “You are very beautiful, your eyes are so pretty.” She quickly shook her head and said, “No I’m
ugly.” I told her that she is not ugly
at all and once again told her she is beautiful. Again she rejected the compliment, “I’m ugly.
They told me I am ugly because I can’t walk.”
I replied, “They must not have looked at you because you are so
beautiful.” Nidia started smiling and
squealing again. Then she put my hand on
her cheek and said she was hot because I said she was beautiful.
After feeding Nidia I walked into the dining room to check
on the other Abuelitas. I came to Teresa
who always has an ornery smile on her face.
I looked down at her tray to find her glasses swimming in the refried
beans, “What happened with your glasses?”
With a serious face she looked up at me, “They were hungry.” Then Teresa started cracking up at the
expression on my face. I had fallen for her joke and thought she was actually
trying to feed her glasses beans. In
reality her glasses fell off her face and landed in the beans.
I went to Angelica’s store today but it was closed. A couple of days ago the roof of the building
fell onto the sidewalk. They have been
doing construction work and today were working in front of the store so
Angelica must have had the day off. She
deserves a day off because she works 6 days a week for about 11 hours each
day.
Behind these yellow walls reside the Abuelitas.
