Respecting my elders

Sometime within the same year of working at McDonald's, my mother decided that it would be beneficial for me to spend some quality time with the senior citizens at the rehab facility she was working for at the time. From what I remember, I started as a volunteer once or twice a month assisting the Activities Director with...activities.

The activities themselves were pretty straightforward - sing-a-longs, card games, bowling (with a ginormous plastic ball and pins), Bingo, Pokeno, storytelling, or whatever felt like a good thing to do that day. The people there were really sweet, some a little challenging but nothing that wasn't manageable. The hardest part was working with the Activities Director, although good natured and well-intentioned, her voice sounded like opera - all the time, in regular conversation, nonstop. Imagine asking someone a question and they reply by singing their response, in an operatic tone. Yes, that is what it was like. If you want to take it a step further, many of the senior citizens had hearing problems, so she had to speak louder so they could hear her. So, now imagine opera amplified.

To my surprise, she hired me part-time as an Activities Assistant - great news but guess what else, more opera than I knew what to do with. It all worked out because the more experience I got, the more she pulled away and I coordinated the Activities by myself.

The moral of the story is that there really isn't one, it just makes me laugh when I think about the operatic Activities Director. Plus, spending time with the seniors wasn't a bad use of time either.