It dawned on me this morning while washing dishes at a benefit for a local woman battling leukemia (yes, I was using Dawn dish washing soap), that Mom's first and and last jobs outside the home involved washing dishes. When she was an adolescent, she and her cousin, Evelyn, washed dishes for the lady across the street. They had to split 25 cents. Mom's last job was working in the school cafeteria running the dishwasher. She had to split her wage w/ the government. Running the sprayer today, I pictured Mom in her corner of the cafeteria kitchen spraying down the lunch trays. She was a pleasant lunch lady, and most of the kids always said "hi" when dropping off their trays. Her former Lucy's Kids usually had a big smile to go along w/ the greeting. Probably one of the greatest lessons I've learned from Mom is to never be too proud to wash dishes or scrub toilets to make money or help others. She certainly did both. I first learned how to clean toilets by helping her clean the shelter houses and bathrooms at the city park. People do some really disgusting things in public restrooms, but cleaning them gave me a greater appreciation for any public restroom I've used since. All this went through my mind while washing dishes this morning. That's another reason I like manual labor......gives me time to think.
On a separate note......I felt tonight the frustration of being 150 miles from Dad. He has his next cataract surgery on the 18th but has to start the preliminary drops tomorrow. First, he thought he was supposed to start them on Tuesday, and then he couldn't remember which ones he was supposed to take. After two frantic messages to Ron and a failed attempt at reaching David, I'm sorry to say that I dropped it in Ron's lap. I tried to help Dad over the phone, but I only confused him. At times like this, I really hate being so far away from him. And now w/ wintry weather upon us, I worry that I can't get to him when he needs me. I'm heading there on the 19th so I hope the weather and the roads cooperate. I thank God that Susie (I think that's the alias I gave her) stops in several times to visit w/ Dad and bring him food. I guess "what-goes-around" really does "come around." Susie helps Dad, I helped Patty.
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