A Thought About My Old Friend

My very first fulltime job, when I was 19 yrs old, was with Wheel Trans (TTC) for the disabled. It was there that I met a very elderly woman named Gladas over the phone.
 

I remember she said her son worked for Christian Children’s Fund and her daughter in law was a nurse.

I remember visiting her at her apt at Morningside and Kingston Rd and bringing her Chicken Joy (which is still there, by the way). I also remember it was the longest bus ride ever!

I remember taking her to church one Saturday night at North York Temple.  Getting her up the stairs took a whole crew of young men to help lift her.
 

I remember her calling me at all hours of the night for years. (She would lose track of time)

I remember her crying because she lived with so much physical pain and arthritis.

I remember her 87^th birthday.

I remember when she fell in her apartment and was alone on the floor for three days

I remember her calling me to say they were moving her to a nursing home and how afraid she was because she didn’t want to go.

I remember how very lonely she felt.

I remember how sorry I felt for the pain she had to live with and the fact that she suffered so much before she died.

I will never be sorry for the time I spent with a lonely older person. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to do more.