Helene Helene - Here I Come!

 I asked Joam, a Muslim originally from Palestine, if I could photograph him. He was most agreeable. He lives in the Northeast and is retired as an electrical engineer. Got his degree in El Paso. He's been all over the world traveling. Has a wife and kids.

Took less than an hour to get to her assisted living place.

 I asked him to carry my many bundles onto the first floor of Manatawny Manor.

The next Uber guy, Edwin, didn't like to talk. He found my house w/o any trouble from his GPS but said, You don't learn anything when you do it this way. When I got in his car he asked me if I spoke Spanish.

What? He saw my Flamenco tap shoes?

He drove a Taurus.

 Helene, stuck in a corner of her room, in her wheelchair. She's 91 and her mind is good. But she rarely speaks to anyone face to face as we did. When I asked her if she missed Aaron, her husband, she said Rarely.

He worked for a defense contractor, was afraid when he left for work in the morning, as he didn't know where he'd be assigned for the day. Possible war zones!

Brought one of her many b'ful plates she gave me before leaving her home at 1565 Bauman Drive. She remembered it and all the different sizes it came in.

 She did not like the Subway hoagie I brought her so  - what was I to do? - but gobble it up! Yum. And then inject in my big soft belly.

Every day she is given water. I was really thirsty so put a straw in her bottle and drank a lot. She examined my earrings and said they were cloisonne.

 Everything she wants to do, she must ask for help as she can't budge from her chair.

Bsh

Oh dear. Just lost some of my writing.

Called sister Lynn who has an uber app and asked her to send anudder guy. Took an hour. But I saw a lounge with folks sitting inside. 

Might Helene go?

Helene's nurse wheeled her in and she immediately took to these folks and asked their names. Joe Barnshaw from Collegeville is a volunteer.

There was a Phyllis and another Ph word and Helene was lovin it all.

Now she doesn't have to be alone any more. She told me the next time I come to bring a hoagie from Wawa.

She also said she wants to start taking photos again! She wants a camera just like mine! A pink Nikon. 

A miracle she's come alive again. 

Here's a poem I brought her which she liked.

HELLO AGAIN

Queen Helene
I've been preparing
for this trip ever since
we sat around the table
in Jenkintown licking
envelopes and chatting
in a desultory fashion.

You had your Hesselblad
What a name!
What pictures you made
In that dark room at
1565 Bauman Drive

19002 the unforgettable
zip code.

Thousands of people you met
Peanut Butter, Sam Maitin, Stephen Perloff
Naomi Mindlin, Robinson Fredenthal
with early Parkinson's, and Burt
Wasserman, plump and tasty as a
plucked chicken

I absconded with many of your dishes
your varied strainers for spaghetti
and tasty thick zoups

A Day for Ourselves
February, the longest month,
with an extra day at the end
to stare at the moon
and howl!

.....

Her friend Peanut Butter - Robert Woodward - is doing very well.

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