Waiting Rooms

 I’m at the age where I spend a lot of time in doctor’s waiting rooms.  I took my parents for years and now I’m taking me.  I’ve learned that doctors’ waiting rooms can be great entertainment!  

Like today at the cardiologist.  There was a couple there in their 70s.  The man apparently had several tests scheduled and he told his wife, “I don’t give a damn what that doctor says, when I get home, I’m pouring myself a big stiff drink!  After today I’ve earned it!”  Can’t argue with that logic!  

I took my father for a scan and I waited for about an hour for him to finish.  Everyone in the room was playing on a phone or a tablet, me included. Everyone, that is, except for one elderly man with a flip phone, on speaker.  He was yelling, his wife was yelling, and we all had a front row seat!  Everyone looked up when he yelled at her, “I can’t talk now, I’m at the doctor having that “THING” done!”   We all wondered what “thing” he was having, but we were afraid to ask!  

My mother never realized her “whispers” weren’t whispers at all!  We were in line checking in at her pulmonologist and there was a pretty 20-something girl in front of us. Mama turned and “whispered” to me, “She smells so good!”  The girl turns around and smiles sweetly and says, “Why thank you!  That’s so sweet of you to say!”  Mama was mortified!  I was chuckling! 

Not all waiting rooms are amusing, though.  My father had prostate cancer and his oncologist appointments were very emotional. Not just for us, but everyone there was suffering.  You start to bond with the people you see regularly.  You know what they are going through and they know your ordeal.  

I love watching people.  Try it.  It’s great entertainment!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Angel

 No, not like the angels I wrote about earlier.  This is much different.  I’ll explain in a minute.  And I promise this will be the last post on this subject, but I need to write this for my own peace of mind. This is about the Angel of Death.   I’ve known Robert since we were 3 years old, almost 67 years.  We were two months apart in age. We grew up together, went all through school together, and even though we traveled different paths after high school, we remained friends and stayed in touch.  I stayed in Utica while he got a job in Saudi Arabia and lived there for nearly 30 years.  But no matter where in the world he was, he didn’t forget his old friend. He stayed in touch and would see me when he was back in the States. After he retired, he and his wife settled in the Orlando area in Florida    I hadn’t heard from him in a couple of months, and I thought that was strange.  We usually email, text, or talk once a month or so. The...
Read more

Christmas

 Today is Christmas.  Families everywhere are gathering to celebrate, exchange gifts, and eat themselves into a food coma!  I’ve had a nice Christmas, quiet and low key, but nice.  A far cry from Christmases past.   When I was a kid, we had to go to both sets of grandparents. We’d get up early, my sister and I would see what Santa brought, and open our gifts from each other.  Then we’d load up the car and go to my mother’s folks.  All the aunts and uncles and cousins were there.  We’d eat a huge lunch and open gifts.  Then we’d load up again and go home for a few minutes and go to my father’s folks.   Same scenario there.  Aunts, uncles, and cousins, except this side had more of each. Another huge meal and we’d head home.  By this time, we were so tired we didn’t want to play with our new toys, all we wanted to do was go to bed! After I got married, it got more hectic.  We had to go to my mother in law’s for Christmas with...
Read more

The Greatest Gift

 At my cousin Roy’s funeral a few weeks ago, I was talking with one of his co-workers and he said something about how Roy could fix anything.  He was amazed. “Like how did he know all this stuff?”  I explained that it was almost a way of life in our family.  I mentioned in my earlier post about the tractor shed, how my father taught me so many things.  Roy’s dad, my Uncle Jerry was the same way.  It was a great gift.   Uncle Jerry was an appliance dealer. He sold and repaired Whirlpool appliances for over 50 years. Naturally, all our appliances came from him.  But, like Daddy, he expected me to fix things myself whenever I had a problem.  He would sell me the part and talk me through the repair over the phone and if I still couldn’t fix it, then I could bring it in or he’d send one of his guys to check it out.  But he was teaching me how to do things for myself. I tell people all the time that the greatest gift my father gave me was to t...
Read more