Today's photo was taken on November 23, 2008. Just 11 days after Mattie's second limb salvaging surgery. Mattie was released from the hospital, so he could be home for Thanksgiving. It was a Thanksgiving NOT to be forgotten as Mattie was truly miserable and his PTSD symptoms were beyond noticeable and extremely difficult for Peter and me to manage. As you can see Nurse Patches, my affectionate name for our calico cat, was on the scene and keeping a close eye on Mattie. The best cat ever! What you might not be able to tell was Mattie's hospital bed was in our living room and our home truly looked like a mini hospital.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 48,229,210
- Number of people who died from the virus: 776,639
I ran around this morning doing chores. One of which involved me driving to a part of the LA valley that I am not familiar with, of course I got lost. I was following my WAZE app but what it did not happen to mention was the fact that I had to stay left to remain on the Interstate 5 freeway. Given that my exit was coming up, I remained in the right lane. Big mistake, I landed on a totally different freeway and then had to find my back. Not easy in LA, because once you make an error, it is very hard to get off, turn around, and get going in the right direction. In my opinion this is not a forgiving place to drive. You either have to know where you are going, or you are going to have a problem. I did manage, but it's my pattern.... when I get lost, I call Peter. I can't tell you how many times he has helped me navigate, regardless of what state I am in. He is used to my panic phone calls.
Later this afternoon, we had a late lunch at the Smoke House. This is a legendary restaurant. The Smoke House was built at the end of WWII and is one of the few L.A. restaurants of that era to survive to today. It has the décor and aura of a different age and has grown steadily with the growth of the movie industry and through word of mouth in the Burbank community. When I look at this photo, it reminds me of a scene from an I Love Lucy episode. It turns out that all the Hollywood photos hanging on the walls represent all the stars who used to dine at this restaurant.
The table behind us had a family of about six people, which included a little girl about 5 or 6 and a child in a car seat. I couldn't see this child, but one of the mom's was playing videos on her phone for the child in the car seat. The volume however was deafening. I mean very loud. It was so loud, my ears were ringing. My parents and I tried to ignore it and continued along with our meal. However, while eating, management came over to talk with the mom with the blaring videos. When she was asked to turn the volume down, the mom said that her child is hard of hearing and practically deaf, so the volume has to be loud. The manager truly was stunned and had no response. Of course none of us were expecting this information. We just don't expect children to have physical health issues, but one I heard this mom tell the manager about her child, it all made sense to me. I am so glad we did not say anything to this family or complain. It was like I sensed something wasn't right and that there was a good explanation for such a loud volume.
After the manager left, I overheard this mom telling the other members of her dining party about the baby's birth, the fact that the baby was born and lived in a NICU for two months, and the challenges she and the baby faced. I could tell this mom needed to talk and to be heard, but unfortunately the people she was dining with did not really want to hear her story. In any case after they had their meal, as they were getting up and leaving the restaurant this mom with the baby with hearing issues, came over to thank us. My parents did not understand why, but I got it immediately! She was thanking us for coping with the loud videos and for not saying anything or calling her out.
Meanwhile, my dad had a full meal. After he ate, my mom asked him.... what did you eat? His response was an omelet. We said no and asked him to guess again. Needless to say, he did not remember. My dad's memory has rapidly declined from when I saw him last in April of this year. In fact, I think I showed up here just in time, because both of my parents need support. It is clear that my monthly visits, prior to us buying a house, made a real difference and probably allowed them to stay in their California rental for as long as they did.
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