Special delivery to dreamer, Jeannie
91-year-old hospice patient Jeannie may be actively dying, but she is quick as a whip, and let me tell you, she’s a firecracker. She is tucked away in the hottest and windiest part of Palm Springs, in a tiny mobile home not much bigger than her tiny frame. The home moves and sways when the wind blows, just as Jeannie moves and sways when you mention dancing to her. “ I used to dance and sing!”, she boasts. She welcomes visitors with a wide inviting smile – when you meet her, it’s love at first sight.
Her fragile little body may be failing her, with doctors saying 6 months tops, but her mind is ever so sharp. “They told me I was going to have to stay in the nursing home and I’ll tell you what I told them: I don’t think so!” She delivered the line with just the right amount of sass and a twinkle in her eye to make it adorable.
She’s funny too.
It did not take much to explain what I do. At 91 she makes you feel she’s one step ahead of you. Upon hearing we’d be working at her request, and the request of her devoted hospice worker Bob for her to stay at home, I asked was there anything else I could do. She piped up quickly, “Well some lobster and crab would be nice!” She put her charm and intoxicating smile to work. “I’m on it!” I told her, and left her sweet company, reluctantly.
When I returned later that afternoon with her hospice worker Bob, and our Dream Foundation volunteer, I peeked in the door, “Remember me?” I asked. Jeannie looked at me like I was a moron. “Tom.” She said flatly, but with that breath-taking smile. “We have a few things here for you.” She smiled again. We gave her a set of earphones that she could plug into the television. She had to watch it with the volume turned up full blast. She quickly put the headset on. When I asked if she could hear better she responded with a thumbs up. Her caregiver Juan was equally grateful and relieved to not have to hear the TV at full throttle.
We then presented her with her lobster dinner and coconut cream pie. Jeannie’s eyes lit up as her itty bitty shoulders started rotating. A circular dance-which was cut short with a thought that she barked, “Juan! Don’t eat any of my lobster!” She then continued her victory dance. Moving her shoulders side to side.
The last gift before the big finale was a blanket hand-knit by Dream Team Jackie’s mom to replace the purple towel that had been covering her up. Jeannie’s response was both sad and sweet. “ It’s purple too like my towel, but someone hand-knit this!” “Just for you.” I added.
For the grand finale we presented her with a special certificate, which we explained, was for weekend caretakers so she could stay at her home. “I’m so grateful for everything that everybody did for me, oh my you must thank everyone involved. What a surprise it’s Marvvvvvelous.!!! I don’t know what I did to deserve it all!”
We continued our celebration until she nearly shut the party down when she asked me to serenade her. “I promise to bring someone back to serenade you.” I quickly replied. And, once again, with her “ain’t no fool” attitude she quipped, “I did not say someone. I said YOU!” She was cracking her smile and staring me down with a devilish sparkle in her eye. Unwilling to say no to this dear lady I began.
“Life is not a highway strewn with flowers,
Still it holds a goodly share of bliss,
When the sun gives way to April showers,
Here is the point you should never miss”.
And, without missing a beat, she chimed in with a voice much bigger than her itty-bitty frame, and with a raspy tone (oddly sexy if I dare say!)
“Though April showers may come your way,
They bring the flowers that bloom in May.
So if it’s raining, have no regrets
Because it isn’t raining rain, you know, it’s raining violets”.
Then I continued with-
“Up a lazy river by the old mill run”
and there was Jeannie –
“That lazy lazy river in the noon day sun”…
I briefly fantasized about reviving my childhood acting days and taking her on the road with me. With a full heart, I begrudgingly left Jeannie, thinking, “There’s nothing better.”
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