Did you ever hear the story about the city mouse and his cousin, the country mouse? Each was envious of the other so they decided to switch places and have a vacation from their normal life. After my fall with the broken leg on July 30, 2015, I felt like the country mouse visiting in the city. Some happenings at Trinity Oaks were similar, while others were different.

One morning I woke up and realized that my new partial dentures were missing. I almost panicked when I remembered what it would cost to replace those. Then I recalled a time right after I got the new ones when the same thing had happened. I began to feel around in the bed and sure enough there they were just as they had been in the chair in my country home. I sure hope I don’t swallow these in the country or the city!

One thing for sure, it is noisier in the city. The sound of sirens goes on several times night and day whereas I might only hear a siren once a week in my country home. The one noise that really perturbed me was the sound of the car horns when visitors parked and locked their cars.

The weather was pleasant enough for me to sit out in the shade reading and writing just as I was doing when I originally wrote this during my two-month stay at the rehab center. There had been pleasant breezes and I tended to doze off to sleep every little bit. Then…honk, honk! And more horns in the parking lot all day long. This started in the early mornings and then continued through the nightly shift change. My window was right above the parking lot and when it was open, I could overhear late night conversations and those car lock horns of nurses coming in for the late night shift. Whoever originated this extra horn on vehicles should have to be confined to a nursing home in the city. Maybe “they” could then come up with a quieter means of assuring the owner that his car is locked.

One other difference was due to the close proximity to the airport. Planes frequently fly overhead, and some fly lower than those flying over my country home. One day two planes looked like they were less than a mile apart. Some of the noisy helicopters fly so low and I was reminded of my helicopter rides when I traveled to Hawaii with my sister and her husband after Joe died. I knew I had to acknowledge the fact that there will be no more traveling vacations so I accepted my “city visit” as my summer vacation.

One thing that is the same in both the country and the city is the beautiful Carolina blue sky with white fluffy clouds. The trains are closer and more frequent, but that long lonesome sound was not distressing to me since I have lived both far and close to the railroad tracks. The stars are not as plentiful in the city because the lights from so many businesses dim their appearance.

But when I returned home, I was able to spot the Big Dipper in the dark evening sky. I am the “country mouse” who had to visit the city temporarily and I was reminded of some famous “city mice” like Christopher Reeves, Joni Erickson Tada, and many other famous people who became handicapped; perhaps at times, their wishes have been for a country home.

But there is the old saying, “Variety is the spice of life.” One of the residents shared a quote with me and it goes like this: “Happiness is like potato salad, when you share it with others, you have a picnic.” I love potato salad and my city visit was like a picnic (well, except for the broken leg.) Once I accepted the fact that I would be a “city mouse” for an undetermined amount of time, I adjusted to those changes fairly well. I definitely had more people to talk with than I do have out in the country. But as my pain healed in the broken leg, God healed my spirit and when the cast was removed, I returned home to being a “country mouse.”

The noises reverted to singing birds, squealing kids, barking dogs, and bouncing basketballs. And though I miss some of my new friends who are residents at Trinity Oaks, this “old mouse” loves country living better!

 

P.S. Afterthought: If I ever have to return there for rehab, I will certainly be lost without Brenda Zimmerman; she was such a blessing to me ever since my first visit there three years ago. She has had a major role in our card ministry for the soldiers. Even if I never see her again, she has a special little cubby hole in my heart!

Linda Beck lives in Rowan County.