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Checkbook on the shopping cart - Fate Fairies - book version
This entry was posted on 1/9/2012 2:00 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
I was in the depths of taking on home-care for my Mom. She was slowly going down hill - the sinister combination of age, cancer, and a blood issue similar to mine were taking their toll on her. Caring for her at our rural house had been a mild failure. So, after some serious discussion (something Heide and I rarely do) I put my work, my college, my ambulance participation, and really my whole life, on hold. Then..., I moved in with Mom at her house. Heide as usual, held down our fort in the next county over over.
Deep into the home-care endeavor, a time came when I could not leave my mom alone for more than a few minutes. We had people come, Hospice, volunteers, nurses, and neighbors. But, if you have ever done this work, you know the complexities of watching another human being 24 hours a day.
Woodman's grocery store is within walking distance of my mom's house. And, when someone is so sick, you often need supplies without notice. One day around noon, I ran to ol' Woodman's for a couple items. I figured fifteen minutes tops. She usually did not get into any mischief in that short of time. I grabbed Mom's checkbook (I had Power of Attorney - she put my name on the account too), jumped in my car, and sped over to the store.
When caregiving, you will find yourself neglecting your own health, life, appearance, and cloths. When I got to the store, I realized I was in my sweat pants - the ones with no pockets. I set the checkbook up on the little wire shelf by the handle on the shopping cart. Also, Mom had put a good bit of money in that particular account (a good amount of money for her anyway). She did this while she could still think and plan - she wanted a working account for me or whoever, to be able to buy her stuff. She had seen enough friends and family die that she was not afraid of the background particulars of giving care to a dying person, and she knew in her own case, you have got to have ready cash on hand.
I picked up the items, paid at the cash register, shoved the cart back into the cart area, grabbed the bag out of the cart, hopped into my little car, and made it back to Mom's house in seconds flat. The whole thing lasted 10 minutes. I had gotten it down to a science. Mom slept quietly on her portable hospital bed through the whole thing.
I unloaded the bag, put the items on the kitchen counter, and went back to my little easy chair in the living room where I had set up a little television, work table, and computer. Mom had not been in her living room for a month. Her television I had set up by her bed. But if need be, I could hear her rustling or asking for assistance from my little cubby hole.
I flipped on my little tv, booted up the computer, popped open a soda, and leaned back into the easy chair. Suddenly, I shot out of the chair to a standing position like I was a middle linebacker. The checkbook! I ran to the kitchen. Ran back to my cubby whole. Blasted out the door and slung open the door to my little car. Nothing, anywhere. I had left the damn checkbook at the grocery store, probably on the cart.
I quickly peeked at Mom, still asleep, locked the house door, and drove the three blocks to the grocery store at about 70 miles an hour. I parked right under the no-parking sign by the door, ran in and retraced my steps last to first. No check book on any of the carts. I ran to the cash register - no check book. I ran to the service desk - no check book. Tears began to well up in my eyes.
I started to think of all the chaos that could happen with a stolen checkbook. I would need to call the bank immediately. My damn cell phone sat back at my desk in Mom's living room.
"Go back over the path again," I told myself. One more run retracing my steps. Nothing. I turned, defeated, and faced the wall by the service desk. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and there on the stack of bottled water by the wall was a check book.
"No way!" I said out loud. Someone must have took the cart, seen the checkbook, and set it on the water display.
At that hour the store was replete with senior citizens. Someone did it the old way. Leave the lost item near or at the place it was lost. Knowing someone might retrace steps.
I grabbed the checkbook. It was real. My car waited patiently, motor running, door open, still under the no-parking sign.
"You can't park there, sonny," an old fellah said as I hopped into the sad little work car.
I just smiled and said, "It's a great day, ain't it Pops?"
When I got home, Mom still slept, off in what I hoped was a better world than the one she would face when she soon woke up; and, as usual she would have to struggle painfully with the simplest tasks of daily life.
If there was ever a time I called into question my own nonchalant attitude toward believing in the possibility of a higher power, it was this day of the lost checkbook.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
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