So, I'm visiting my Hospice patient and her daughter yesterday afternoon when a neighbor stops by.
After checking in on the snow shoveling job another neighbor had done, the conversation went a little something like this:
He: So, I really came by to tell you some Really Great News.
Patient's Daughter (PD): Yeah, what?
He: So, there's a McDonald's going up behind the Harris Teeter.
Patient and Daughter: Squealing, squealing, squealing. NO WAY!
He: Yesssss way! I knew that would make you happy!
PD - Oh, my GAWWWWD. That's such GOOD NEWS. I got like a thousand coupons I been saving for Ma and me.
Patient - Ain't no body does buns better than McDonald's. So soft. And warm. But soft, the way buns should be. So, so, so good.
PD - I got at least two coupons for buy one get one free Fish Sandwiches. You love those, dontcha, Ma?
Patient - Yeah, because the buns are so soft and warm.
He - Have you had them lately? They put Old Bay in the Tartar Sauce.
Patient and Daughter: Squealing, squealing, squealing. NO WAY!
He: Yesssss way!
PD - Okay, now I really can't wait for that McDonald's to be finished. When do you think it will open?
He - Someone said it would be ready by Easter.
Patient - And, today's Ash Wednesday. Our chaplain just brought us our Ashes and said prayers with us. So, that's 40 Days and 40 Nights. Guess I know what my Lenten Discipline will be this year: Waiting for the McDonald's to open.
PD - Right, Ma. So now I know you'll live at least another 40 days and 40 nights. Right, Ma?
Patient - Yup, and then a McDonald's Fish Sandwich on that warm, soft bun and those French fries and a strawberry milk shake and then I can die and go to heaven.
PD: This is going to be the Best Lent EVER!! Don't you think, Pastor?
Me: It's all good, ladies. It's all good.
(Ba da ba ba BA. I'm lovin' it.)
Patient and Daughter: Squealing, squealing, squealing. NO WAY!
He: Yesssss way! I knew that would make you happy!
PD - Oh, my GAWWWWD. That's such GOOD NEWS. I got like a thousand coupons I been saving for Ma and me.
Patient - Ain't no body does buns better than McDonald's. So soft. And warm. But soft, the way buns should be. So, so, so good.
PD - I got at least two coupons for buy one get one free Fish Sandwiches. You love those, dontcha, Ma?
Patient - Yeah, because the buns are so soft and warm.
He - Have you had them lately? They put Old Bay in the Tartar Sauce.
Patient and Daughter: Squealing, squealing, squealing. NO WAY!
He: Yesssss way!
PD - Okay, now I really can't wait for that McDonald's to be finished. When do you think it will open?
He - Someone said it would be ready by Easter.
Patient - And, today's Ash Wednesday. Our chaplain just brought us our Ashes and said prayers with us. So, that's 40 Days and 40 Nights. Guess I know what my Lenten Discipline will be this year: Waiting for the McDonald's to open.
PD - Right, Ma. So now I know you'll live at least another 40 days and 40 nights. Right, Ma?
Patient - Yup, and then a McDonald's Fish Sandwich on that warm, soft bun and those French fries and a strawberry milk shake and then I can die and go to heaven.
PD: This is going to be the Best Lent EVER!! Don't you think, Pastor?
Me: It's all good, ladies. It's all good.
(Ba da ba ba BA. I'm lovin' it.)
7 comments:
It's the little pleasure, for sure :) (And I hope that your patient can hold on so that she can have some soft, warm buns and delicious tartar sauce in that magical sandwich.)
Love It...never know what will motivate people...
Susan B - Or, whether people need "motivation".
Melody, I admit that there is a piece of me that wants her to eat as many fish sandwiches with soft warm buns as she wants, but if that's her metaphor for getting into heaven after she dies, well, as Pope Francis said, "Who Am I to judge?
They sound like me a week ago, squealing when I saw that a (still rare for Northern California) Popeye's Chicken had opened nearby! Soooooo tasty....
JCF - It's the little things after all. (Although I'm too much of a purist to consider putting Old Bay in Tartar Sauce. Is nothing sacred? LOL.)
This was wonderful. My brother died three years ago after a very long bout with lung cancer. He and I spoke daily for a year and a half, and our conversations often dwelt on little things like how good the iced coffee from the shop down the street tasted, and hopes for the Arizona Cardinals season, and watching the desert hares frolic just outside the window, and on and on. It didn't dawn on me until much later that these were all little celebrations of life, savored all the more in the knowledge that time was fleeting.
Life, and living, is precious, even when the object of celebration is a warm bun surrounding a small patty of fish and a bit of tartar sauce.
Thank you, Elizabeth, again, for these reflections.
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