I moved to the Houston area right before I turned 24. Now I’m coming up on turning 48. That means I’ve lived in the Houston area for exactly half of my life. In five more days, I leave the city I spent exactly half my life in. That’s daunting, but my mom was also turning 48 when she left Chicago, and she’d been there her entire life. She used to guilt me about that, too!
I’m ready to go right Meow. I’m actually thinking of calling the leasing office and paying from my own checking account for two more days of “pro-rated July”. It would just be nice to have the weekend to be doing all of that. I also do not want Kevin to think I’m trying to get rid of him. I’m not. I just want to get moving activities out of the way. He is off this weekend and can hang with me over the weekend regardless. He’s staying until his Houston manager hires new people. I have a feeling he will not hire anyone just to make it hard on Kevin to transfer.
I worked Sunday with a new client. When GCboss asked me to work with a brand new client, I cringed all the way to McCringey town. I’m leaving! Why! But it was ok. The lady suffered from sundowning, which made it a challenge. During her sundowning episode, I asked her if she needed to use the restroom. She told me, “Feel free to use the restroom any time you’d like!” “Thank you, I will,” I replied. “But what about you, do you need to go?”
“What business is it of yours?” She asked. This is common with dementia and sundowning. I gently reminded her that I would help her in the restroom. She cursed me out. That’s fine. Once it was time to leave, though, she didn’t want me to. She said, “Thanks for a lovely visit.” After that, I decided if GCboss asked me to work with anyone else except for the “usual” 89 year old that I was scheduled with M-F, then I would not. Friday is my last day.
Unfortunately though, Monday she had to enter the hospital. I went to Starbucks by her house, had a coconut Ube Macchiato and worked on my spiral notebook. She texted me asking me to come early because she wasn’t well. Her nurse was there when I arrived. She took a nap after the nurse left and then wanted me to call EMS to take her to the hospital. The nurse also said to go. So I’m just staying home now in the event she gets home before Friday morning. I am not responding to GCboss unless it’s about her. I think she’ll be ok, but honestly I’m not sure.
I’m going to work in a group home, and this is what this 89 year old told me (mostly because she’s upset I’m leaving.). She said, “Now listen! You Be careful of those mental cases! You be careful of those mentals!” I had to stop and laugh because of her Boston accent and the way it sounded. Then she caught herself and said, “I know! I’m also mental!” I reminded her that I, too, am “mental”. It’s fine. Who isn’t?
I will be working M-F from midnight to 8 am, which likely means Sunday night to Thursday night. I have a feeling I’ll end up working with Kevin again, but we’ll see. It’s more of a priority for him to transfer. But working at a facility is going to be wayyyyyyy less stressful than going to different peoples houses all the time.
0.8 miles from my new place is also a quilt shop with lots of classses. When Kevin and I checked it out, they were holding a long arm class. Long arm machines intimidate me. If I ever did piecework that needed to be quilted I’d find someone to do that to them.
And as much as I have been to Austin in the last five or six years for retail audits, I must say that the slight cultural differences between Houston and Austin are more apparent to me now. It’s only the closest major city to me now, but it still seems like a whole new culture. I’m going to have to adopt some “when in Rome” mentality, but not sure what for yet.