| Author |
Across the Fence:  Strange Morning..What would you do?  |
|
DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 12:52:10 PM
|
From the land of it's never boring...
We live half way between a small coastal community and the city of Victoria, along a busy commuting road, but 20 minutes from either town or city by car.
This morning I'm cleaning and hear "Hello?" from my front patio. This is not unusual as many people come here for produce & eggs. So I go out the front door to find this lady sitting at my patio table. She is probably in her late 60's/early 70's and a beautiful lady..that flawless waxen skin and lovely greying hair. She is clean, dressed very nicely in clean jeans and runners, good quality pull over and striped shirt. She has walked down my driveway pulling a small cart. Strange as we aren't walking distance from anywhere. Hmmm??
She wants to know what kind of berries I have and I tell her. She says, "Frankly, I haven't had breakfast. Could you fry me an onion and maybe an egg?"
This caught me totally off guard and with a bit of embarrassed nervousness, I said, "I'll tell you what. I haven't had breakfast yet, so you wander and have a look around and I'll make us breakfast". I came in and called my DD at work and told her to call me back in ten minutes. (I'm feeling slightly vulnerable being pretty much alone here). Meantime, I made a good sized breakfast...eggs, potatoes, toast, sliced tomatoes, etc. When I took our plates out to the patio (I was not having her inside my home), she was very pleased and practically inhaled every last bit. I then gave her a basket of strawberries for dessert and bid her a good day and she left with a smile. The conversation while we ate was strange, she rambled about living/working in Peru, etc. but really made no sense whatsover and didn't answer any questions with clarity (ie. where are you from, where are you going).
So I came in the house and stared out the window wondering what this all meant. I ended up phoning the non-emergency police number and asking them to just check on her welfare. They said they had had four other calls about her this morning and that they had checked her and she did seem to be suffering some mental illness of some sort, but that they had just let her go.
Wierd morning...
|
|
|
mima
True Blue Farmgirl
1573 Posts
1573 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 12:56:33 PM
|
| Maybe she had slzheimers and had "gotten out" from wherever she really lived! Or possibly an angel!!! Anyway whoever she was- you were very kind to do that! |
 |
|
|
Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 12:59:35 PM
|
I kind of wonder why they just let her go if they had found her to be suffering a mental illness. My father's only sister wandered away from home and was found wandering. That was the beginning of her Alzheimer's journey. She didn't know where she was or why. I think it's very odd that they didn't follow up on her. My Aunt Virginia stopped making much sense at some point - she would talk on endlessly about people/events none of us remembered from her childhood days. You did everything you could - you fed her and followed up by contacting the authorities.
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
|
|
|
KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 1:20:26 PM
|
I'm with Mima and Janice on this one--sounds like my Aunt Hazel, and if she wasn't deceased, I'd say it was her!
Good of you to make her breakfast, you know. Someone else would have just shut the door. It certainly is strange, but it does sound like someone with Alzheimers.
Just a few months back, here in town, a service station worker got concerned when an elderly gentleman sat in a car all day in the lot. Turns out, he was from Tennessee, and he and his son stopped to get gas (in Tennessee), son went into pay, and the older gentelman took off and ended up in Erlanger!!!
"She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian. |
|
|
|
DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 1:47:37 PM
|
I wondered the same thing Janice...why would the RCMP just let her go?? I have no idea where she will stay in the small town she is walking towards. I figured that if she was no harm to herself or others, they may not have been able to pick her up. However having just talked to DD who is a paramedic, (and an angry one now!), she says that the RCMP could have picked her up and taken her to the psychiatric assessment unit at the hospital, but probably just couldn't be bothered as it would tie up their day taking her into downtown Victoria and having to sit with her until she could be seen by a medical team.
Now THAT would make me angry. I hope the dear soul is okay, can't get her off my mind now.
Di |
|
|
|
junkjunkie
True Blue Farmgirl
1306 Posts
Judy
Lawrenceville
NJ
USA
1306 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 1:48:50 PM
|
That was very kind of you to make a nice breakfast for her. Like Jonni said, most people would have shut the door. I had an aunt many years ago (now deceased) that had Alzheimers starting in her late 50's. She started to forget and misplace things, and my uncle thought she was just being careless. A few years later, she couldn't be left alone and she would speak, but in a gibberish way. You couldn't understand her at all. She was a bright, attractive and well dressed woman in her earlier years. Very sad. You did the right thing by contacting the police. It's a shame she was left to wander.
"To have life in focus, we must have death in our field of vision." Benedictine monk John Main |
|
|
|
Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 1:59:40 PM
|
Diane - did she say what town she was headed towards? Could you call the authorities there and maybe ask if they could at least check on whether anyone has reported an elderly lady missing?
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
|
|
|
cinnamongirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1682 Posts
Carrie
Canada
1682 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 2:11:27 PM
|
| Your a sweetie! |
|
|
|
Nancy Gartenman
True Blue Farmgirl
9093 Posts
Nancy
West Seneca
New York
USA
9093 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 3:42:20 PM
|
Sounds like you did all the right things. You never know it might have been an angel, a hungry one, but an angel .
NANCY JO
www.Nancy-Jo.blogspot.com |
|
|
|
mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:06:26 PM
|
| Oh my gosh!! Diane - I KNOW that lady!!! One night last year, my DS pulled over for a lady, just as you described her on his way home from work and asked her if she needed a ride (it was raining cats and dogs). She accepted and he brought her to his home, so she could make some phone calls - said she needed a place to stay. Her (name brand) clothing was SOAKED and she changed at his house. Then she asked if we knew of any hostels, etc. in the area and I tried to help her, looked on line and called a couple of pastors I know, but no luck. So then, I tried to get her to call for some social services and she said she didn't qualify as she had a trust fund. She made no effort to leave and my DS and his wife were looking pretty uncomfortable, so I offered to give her a ride as I left. We got in my car (again, I was a bit apprehensive and told DIL where I was going). As we drove toward Wal-Mart, where I figured she could get another ride easily, she asked me to buy her a hamburger. Well, I wasn't going to turn her down if she was hungry, so I pulled in to Burgerville and bought us both hamburgers. It was then that she told me her story about being in PERU, just like you said!! She also didn't give me any concrete information, just that she was heading south, she thought. Then I took her to Wal-Mart and she asked me to give her money for instant milk and instant coffee. I gave her $5.00 and she got out, with her little bag she had. She inadvertently left her wet jeans in the back of my car, which I didn't discover til the next day, and they were Calvin Kleins. She was thinner than me, so I didn't keep them - gave them to Goodwill. It has to be the same woman - she must be traveling up and down the West Coast. What a coincidence. I think she told DS her name was Jean. |
|
|
|
Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:17:11 PM
|
Wow! At first I was going to say that you never know why people show up in your life, even for the briefest moment. But it seems she shows up in a lot of people's lives! It makes me very curious about her story. I hope no one takes advantage or hurts her.
Karin
Wherever you go, there you are.
Come visit me at:
www.madrekarin.etsy.com
www.madrekarin.blogspot.com |
|
|
|
Kelly43
True Blue Farmgirl
349 Posts
NJ
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:23:23 PM
|
Diane and Sherri, What a strange occurance, even stranger that it appears to be the same woman. You both are such wonderful human beings for reaching out to her. It reminds me of how the bible always tells you that you should reach out to people because you never know, it could be Jesus. You are both truely angels on earth.
Kelly |
|
|
|
mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:38:51 PM
|
| I know any of you out there would do anything you could to help someone that you thought was truly in need. |
|
|
|
carycamille
True Blue Farmgirl
163 Posts
Camille
Cathlamet
Washington
USA
163 Posts |
|
|
DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:49:43 PM
|
Ok Sherri this is going to really seem unbelievable, but I swear it's true - she talked about hostels and tried to convince me that I should turn my garage into one. Darn, I really wish I would have asked her name...never even thought of it until after she left. Sometimes I think my brain leaks out my ears.
|
|
|
|
jo Thompson
True Blue Farmgirl
603 Posts
Jo
the mountainside of the Chugach
in Alaska
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:50:58 PM
|
My friend is a real estate agent and had a man show up wanting to buy a house. Gave her good information, credit everything okay, turned out that he had terrible alzheimer's, should not have even been driving himself. She just had a feeling about him and called the Washington State Patrol with his info, family was in an absolute panic. He actually had enough accounts to pay cash for that house........ Can you imagine. jo
"life is drab without a lab"
http://web.mac.com/thomja/ |
|
|
|
Shirlaroo
True Blue Farmgirl
297 Posts
Shirley
Australia
297 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 6:55:25 PM
|
It takes great courage to let a stranger into your lives. I also hope this lady is safe
Friends are the best collectables. |
|
|
|
Carol Sue
True Blue Farmgirl
4033 Posts
Carol Sue
Washingtonian
USA
4033 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 8:00:31 PM
|
Thank you ladies for caring for her. And what a small world it can be at times. It makes you wonder if her family is looking for her and where she truly belongs. Bless her and all those other that are lost.
Carol Sue
Enjoying life. |
|
|
|
brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2007 : 8:19:41 PM
|
Wow, I've been thinking about just this topic this week because of the readings on my church's website - Nancy-Jo hit on the exact Scripture. Here is an extract:
According to Gary E. Peluso-Verdend, “One could argue that Hebrews 13:17…approximates a definition of love” (New Proclamation Year C 2007), and Lewis R. Donelson claims that “it would be hard to find a more representative account of Christian ethics in the New Testament.” He then digs deeper into the meaning of love, something we probably think we already know about, and he focuses on vulnerability, an unusual and provocative way of thinking, for example, of hospitality: “To love may be many things, but it always includes making oneself vulnerable…To love is to let another person, an unreliable other person, inside your safe walls…To let a stranger into your house is always a risk. These strangers might be ‘angels,’ but they might not. This call to hospitality is a call to ongoing vulnerability to the unknown other” (The Lectionary Commentary, Roger E. Van Harn, ed.).
To read the complete text http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/september-2-2007-l.html
You are definitely a loving, caring person! I hope everything turns out OK for that lady.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
|
|
|
Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
|
|
AFMom
True Blue Farmgirl
100 Posts
Erica
North Dakota
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 03:15:26 AM
|
Wow, I am amazed that 2 people on the board know of her and met her. What a small world...she is so lucky to meet nice woman and not people who could and would take advantage of her. You both did the right thing by being helpful...thanks for being so kind to her:) Your kindness assures me that there are still good people in this world.
Warmly,
Erica |
|
|
|
aimeeravae
True Blue Farmgirl
341 Posts
Aimee
Deer River
MN
USA
341 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 07:35:44 AM
|
I worked a the alsie unit at a nursing home. My gramma's best friend was a resident. I lived with my gramma for streches of time in my childhood, so this woman was like a second gramma. There were some days she didn't know who I was. I was pregnant at the time and the other days she would follow me through the day telling everyone I was pregnant, rubbing my belly and talking to me like I was still 12. The one thankful thing I can see about your woman is she luckily hasn't detierated much in this time frame.
The old horror story in my family was old uncle Adolf. He had alziemer's and was placed in a home and 15 miles away from his home. He decided to go home. He died on the way when he got stuck in the mud under the railroad tracks. They didn't find him for days. He was a military man with no family. It was very sad. Gramma Hazel always put me in charge of his grave on memorial day. She told the story of every headstone in our family, so we would remember. She will turn 90 this year and is the last in the family from her generation.
Aimee
http://laplantewardklopf.blogspot.com/
|
|
|
|
Bluewrenn
True Blue Farmgirl
1122 Posts
Erin
Texas
USA
1122 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2007 : 4:31:06 PM
|
This story makes me so sad. I have a friend like this, although not the same lady. Reminds me of some of the people who wandered in and out of our lives when I was a kid in Virginia. Some of their stories were so strange... Some were just horribly alone. Some were happiest wandering around and thought nothing of approaching folks for assistance along the way.
My Homesteading Journal http://toomyvara.livejournal.com
My craft journal http://bluewrenn.livejournal.com
|
|
|
|
Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - Sep 08 2007 : 08:56:33 AM
|
Diane (glad you're never bored--I can see why) and Sherri, God bless you both. This woman is so fortunate to have come across your paths. My mother thankfully, stopped driving, but did get lost twice, and Dad called the police once to find her. Diane, it must be haunting to not know how she made out after leaving you, but what else could you have done? Brenda is right: you were hospitable and willing to take a risk for her.
Big Hug,
Ann
Sairy Hill Thicket
There is a Redeemer. |
|
|
|
Sweet Harvest Homestead
True Blue Farmgirl
279 Posts
Lindy
Stanfield
NC
USA
279 Posts |
|
|
Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2007 : 07:17:01 AM
|
This encounter is like something from an old Twilight Zone episode. The woman was very lucky to find two kind people to help her. I just hope that her luck holds out. I wonder if she has no one, anywhere, to miss her...that's so sad.
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
|
|
|
Across the Fence: Strange Morning..What would you do? |
|
Strange Morning..What would you do?
