The Tale of a Crusty Old Lady

I was at the state park for lunch with my mom and boyfriend yesterday. There's a great concession stand that sells restaurant-quality food, and they have the best fries (fresh cut to order!) we've ever had. There was this little old lady there, and we learned she was waiting for her friend to get out of the pool so she could go home. She'd been waiting only half an hour, but to this lady, that seemed like enough time for her friend to swim, and she wanted to go. She was 82 or 83 (she couldn't remember) and suffered from dementia. She was a very nice sweet lady, but you could tell she was a little out of it.

She was telling us how if she went in the pool she'd "probably croak in there," but then she said that would be a good thing because she could go to Heaven and see her parents and the rest of her relatives. She told us how much she missed them and how ready she was to die and see them again. She also asked us if we were saved by Jesus, which, being a bunch of pagans we most certainly are not, but we humored her and said we were. The last thing any of us wanted was a Bible lesson. She was already throwing out verses in casual conversation, and our food wasn't even done being prepared yet. This lady sat with us whilw we ate and talked about a bunch of random little things.

She said she really wanted to work, but places don't need her. She doesn't want money; she just wants to help people out. Eventually her friend got out of the pool so she could go home, and that was that. The whole experience was sort of sad.