I did my first-ever round of Meals on Wheels delivery today. I had a co-worker for this (the woman from church I often wind up working with on things). She won't be there tomorrow but that's okay, I can do it by myself.
There were only three people on our route (There are five routes, divided up by section of town - we had five teams that showed up). It's pretty easy - the RSVP service prepares and dishes up the meals into boxes, they load them into coolers, we take them, we drive to each house, knock on the door, and either hand the person their meal, or, in a couple cases, took it in and set it down for them on the table.
(It was barbecued beef sandwiches, cole slaw, corn, cookies, and a little carton of milk. We got shorted on one pack of cookies so the last person didn't get any but he seemed okay with that).
There is an orange sticker people can put on their door - two of the places did not have them but the third, being in a series of rental units, did, probably so the delivery people would know for sure.
There were also quite a few people who went down to the senior center for lunch - I think the more mobile people or people who wanted to go out. (There was a minibus that picked up people who could not drive, but it looked like a number of people still could, and drove themselves).
I got down there way early. The person running the show either misspoke on the message she left last night (she said 10:15 after earlier saying 10:45) or she's so used to dealing with chronically-late people that she didn't realize telling me "10:15" would mean I'd get there at 10:10.
So I hung around for a while. I talked with a couple of the cooks for a bit, and one woman who was making the rounds of the center came up and introduced herself and hugged me and I hugged her back (As touch averse as I tend to be....well, in recent years I've lost some of that, and also I can recognize when someone gets joy out of giving hugs and know not to pull back). I am wondering if she may have had some memory issues because about 10 minutes later she came back and introduced herself again (as did I) and hugged me again. (Or maybe that was her schtick, and she was going around telling people, "That girl who came down to deliver meals was sweet but bless her heart, her memory probably wasn't too good; she introduced herself to me twice")
I'm going tomorrow closer to 10:45.
I'm glad I got to do it, I guess. I normally don't because the time frame is EXACTLY when I am in my midday classes.
Also, I realized: for all my fears of "I have no children and so will be all alone when I'm old and retired," there are probably some groups/communities where I can find some fellowship - it seems like the people down at the senior center had a pretty good time with each other (in one corner there was an exercise video going and people were doing chair-exercise, other people were talking and laughing, I could see people playing board games or the like there, there was a bingo set-up off in one corner).
It's also interesting, in small towns, especially in the South, the way the "governmental" and the "faith-based" work together - there was a prayer list of names of people up on the chalkboard (one of the cooks ruefully said, "Our prayer list just keeps getting longer") and I saw hymnals stacked on a piano, but I'm pretty sure this is a city/county government building.
Edited to add: and my co-worker told me a story I sincerely hope will never be my experience if I do this again - she and her "partner" on a previous go went to one person's house one day, and they were talking about how "he seems perfectly able-bodied, why does he require a meal be brought him?" and then the next day (you know where this is going, don't you) they showed up and he didn't answer the door....they peered in one window and he was down on the floor.
Well, they called 911, but it turned he was already gone - but, yipes. That could be kind of traumatic but on the other hand, I guess the delivery of Meals on Wheels does mean a daily "welfare check" on people who might not otherwise have a lot of contact. (Though I also know mail carriers often look in on that - one of our people had the mail carrier (who used to be MY mail carrier, and actually remembered me) come up to her door while we were bringing the food.
(Also, I wonder: in a case like that, do they do anything like an inquest? Or do they even DO inquests in the US? (I only know them from the British mysteries I read) And would you be called on to give testimony as the person who found the person? I hope I never find out....)
***
I also "dipped down" (heh) into my stash and found (a) a skein of white acrylic (and one of the big, Red-Heart style skeins, so I know there will be enough) and a skein of light/bright yellow of similar size - so if I want a "Surprise," I can make one. (I also am quite sure I have the right felt for her).
And I found the honey-colored K1C2 yarn (Camelina), almost certainly a past Elann purchase, for that cabled sweater I was thinking about. (I didn't locate the book but my knitting book shelves are always a mess; I pull stuff off to think about new projects and then never get them back in the same places. I can look for it more tonight).
But yeah: moratorium on starting new things until I finish something I have going on.
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