# I have to go to a crafts fair in a few hours...



## Teninx (Oct 27, 2008)

Well friends, the day is here. Each year a local residential care facility (nursing home, for those who are nearly old enough to join one) hosts a Christmas crafts fair, where the handiwork of the residents is displayed and sold on large tables erected throughout the building. Each year, Mrs. Ten insists on touring the grounds, buying handfuls of cute little items priced from $0.10 to the lofty sum of $1.00. There's the popsicle-stick Santas and the acorn reindeers, the painstakingly knitted but functionally useless Christmas Tree potholders, the horridly bad but shockingly earnest watercolor and oil paintings (an exception to the $1.00 rule, in price if not in value), the beaded-styrofoam tree ornaments....you get the idea. Mrs. Ten will purchase a grocery shopping bag full of these crafts and after we get them home, she will exclaim over them for an hour or so until it's time to put them away in the bottom of the closet. That is the opportunity for me to retrieve the shopping bag full of the same crafts that we bought LAST year at the same venue and pitch it in the trash.

Perhaps you gather that this little excursion could strain my patience and my credulity. I've learned over the years that our yearly visit has very little to do with the items on display and everything to do with the social atmosphere at the setting. The residents are so glad to see thier visitors, and so proud to display the items that they've made. People speak to them, and they converse. If there is a spirit to the impending holidays, this is my notice to become aware.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Report back and let us know how it goes, okay?

L


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## sjc (Oct 29, 2008)

So sweet; enjoy your day...be sure to post about it. I'd love to go and donate; I'm a sucker for those things.  I have an attic full because I never say no.  Have fun...Maybe they'll have jewelry for the Mrs.


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## Teninx (Oct 27, 2008)

We're back, and spent about $17.00 on worthless treasures. But the big gain was for Laurie, getting to speak with many of the residents, discussing the crafts and meeting folks that we remember from our last visits. This is such a huge deal for the people of the Home, and we had to insist that they not give us free stuff because we were buying "so much".

Getting Mrs. Ten out and about is a logistical exercise. Every move, from dressing to transfering to vehicle parking and facility entrance must be examined and planned. So when we do get to go out together, it becomes a moment for the both of us. Visiting the home often puts me in a sentimental frame of mind; knowing that when I lose the ability to give care at home we could both wind up at such a place. So I gotta stay healthy as long as I can


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Anybody selling tinfoil hats?


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## Teninx (Oct 27, 2008)

Nah, no tinfoil hats. And I didn't wear mine out, either. It has an unsettling effect on the residents at the Home.


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## sjc (Oct 29, 2008)

You and the Mrs. had quite the lovely day; I'm sure you cheered up those folks.  You will stay healthy; (with us to keep you on your toes you can't miss.)  You and Mrs. sound like a truly wonderful couple.  You are lucky to have each other; once in a lifetime love is very special.  I married my very first boyfriend, I wasn't allowed to date until I was 16...met him the rest is history.  (Though my twin brother had to chaperon our first four dates; that's how it was done back then)


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