Life During Covid 19-Part 23

Road Trip West Day 4

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

In my previous blog I mentioned my attempts to communicate with the housekeepers. On the final morning of our stay, I was determined to communicate with them about emptying the trash and removing towels. I peeked out my door and spied a housekeeper directly across from our room. I motioned her over and indicated I was ready for her. She propped the door open and I moved the trash cans to the door and then pointed to the bathroom and the soiled towels. This worked well, much better than trying to talk. I had begun to have a suspicion that it wasn’t my poor Spanish that was the problem, it was that she was not a Spanish speaker.

I began thinking I would call the vacation Our Road Trip to Nowhere but the people in Georgetown, Kentucky deeply touched our hearts with their kindness. I think I will call it Our Trip to Compassion in the Midst of the Covid Pandemic.

Day 4 was hospital discharge day and I was feeling at loose ends not knowing when he would call. I spent time trying to tidy up the room to be ready to pack up for our return home trip. How did we get so much stuff in our room?

After tidying the room, I settled down to clean out my email inbox when I heard a firm knock on my door. I peered through the peep hole and saw the sweet woman from the front desk. She had been an angel, making sure the coffee pot in the breakfast room was full and asking about my husband.   I opened the door to her bright smile as she presented me with this. She remembered we were celebrating our anniversary. So sweet! I would have hugged her but, you know, that Covid thing.

I puttered around the room, waiting on the phone call that my husband was released. Getting bored, I decided to go for more ice and another cup of coffee. When my phone finally did ring, it was the specialist office from North Carolina setting up an appointment for follow up care. Truly a Divine appointment. It turned out that the Kentucky doctor was a life long friend with the North Carolina specialist.

At last the call came that hubby was being released.  But… there was paperwork to finish and copies of his chart and a disk of his scan to be collected. As 1 pm, the start of visiting hours approached I decided to go to the hospital.

I was not over my fear/dislike of driving the truck, but I was getting better at it. I almost parked within the lines in the hospital parking lot. A big improvement over the previous day.

We made it through the discharge process, stopped to get his medications at the pharmacy and finally arrived back at the hotel. Fortunately the hotel parking lot had a lot of empty spaces making parking a bit less terrifying. Whew! Thank you, Lord. One more night in the hotel, then we would return home.

After getting husband settled into our room I headed back to the truck to unload his stuff.  On the way back to our room, I stopped to thank the woman who delivered the gift and tell her how much I appreciated their care. I told her about my adventures communicating with the housekeeper and that I had begun to suspect it wasn’t my Spanish but that the woman didn’t speak Spanish. She asked if it was the short housekeeper and I said yes. She laughed and informed me the woman was from India! What a hoot. The poor woman must have thought I was crazy and sadly I may have offended her.  I hope not. I can relate to being a little crazy with all that was going on.

Next week will be the drive home. Would I be up to the challenge of driving the truck through the mountains and a long tunnel? (Gasp-I’m claustrophobic!) And what about the roller coaster life I mentioned last week?

Image by Jose Aitor Pons Buigues from Pixabay

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2019 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

Tags: #Roadtrip, #Travel