19 August 2017

Heading out at sunrise

If you look closely, or enlarge, the photo below, you can see Walt and Natasha headed out on their morning walk, at sunrise. It was a funny kind of sunrise, because somehow the golden light was shining on the trees out toward the west, but closer to the house the landscape was in shade.


I had a kind of bittersweet experience this week. I ran into an old friend at the supermarket. G is a woman we met 14 years ago, during our first weeks in Saint-Aignan. She now 87 years old. She's had a lot of health problems over the past dozen years. Age has finally caught up with her. We had lost touch with her two or three years ago. She got to be so deaf that it was impossible to talk to her on the phone, and I didn't even know if she was still living in her house or in some kind of maison de retraite. She has lost a lot of her teeth because of gum disease, I learned, and she can no longer drive. That's why she never stops by any more.

However, it was G who saw me first and recognized me in the supermarket. She was with a woman I didn't recognize, but I did recognize G as soon as I looked into her eyes. She looks so different that if she hadn't seen me and spoken I might not have noticed her. The woman with her was her aide à domicile, whose job is to take care of people who need domestic help and health care. We talked for a while, reminiscing — and blocking the aisle in the supermarket. Tant pis for the other shoppers. The woman with G was obviously pleased to see her enjoy meeting up with an old friend and sharing news and memories. She said she takes G grocery shopping on Monday and Thursdays, and sees nearly her every day. I imagine the French social security system pays her for her work.

G in 2005
G is an authentic local character. Her father, a chauffeur, and mother, a governess, were employed by local château owners, so G spent several years living in, for example, the Château de Montpoupon when she was a girl. One of her friends is the woman who owns and lives in the Château de Saint-Aignan.

G used to be an avid gardener, and she kept sheep when we first lived here. We bought lamb from her when she had them slaughtered in the fall. She gave me many plants and seeds over the years. She hosted dinner parties and at least one memorable cookout for 50 or more people at her house back when, and she often invited us. She gave us gardening advice. She was always very interested in the collard greens I grow, and liked them when I cooked them. She asked me about the collards the other day. She wanted to know if I still grow them. It's funny what people remember and are interested in.

I told G about Callie's death, and she was genuinely shocked and saddened, I could tell. She used to have a dog named Reinette ("Queenie"), a golden retriever who had a litter of puppies a dozen years ago. They were adorable, and G gave them all away to friends and neighbors. Then Reinette passed away a few years ago, and the vet gave G got a new dog named Rumba (pronounced room-bah in French). G's face brightened when I asked about the dog, a black labrador, and she said yes, she still is doing fine. I also told G about Natasha and said I would stop by her house soon and introduce them to each other.

Talking to G again was a good experience, but as I drove home from the supermarket a great sadness came over me. Then, back at the house, we saw one of our neighbors (in her 80s now) walk out into the vineyard alone. We'd never seen her do that before, so it was mysterious. She stood and looked off into the distance for a few minutes, and then turned around to walk back to her house. I went out and asked her if everything was okay.

She said her husband had gone out for a walk with their dog, and was overdue back home. Like G, he is 87 years old. She was afraid the dog might have gotten its leash wrapped around her husband's legs and caused him to fall. She said she had asked him not to walk out into the vineyard but to stay on the paved road, close to their house. She's obviously very worried about him. They've been good friends of G's for 40 years. We met her through them, in fact.

I got into the car and drove out into the vineyard to see if I could find the missing neighbor and dog. I parked and walked around where I thought the neighbor said he liked to walk. I didn't find him and had to give up the search. When I got home, Walt said the neighbor had come back over to say she had located her husband. He had been out puttering around in a garage/workshop on their property the whole time. "I've told him so many times that he needs to let me know every half-hour or so where he is and how he's doing," she said, "but he won't listen." Anyway, tout est bien qui finit bien, as we say — at least for the time being.

Did I mention that another neighbor, not quite as old, has to have triple-bypass heart surgery soon? Sigh. Old age is not for sissies.

12 comments:

  1. Did I meet this lady when she was pitting cherries?

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    1. Oui, c'est la dame aux cerises dont il s'agit.

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  2. I'm so glad you ran into your friend, G. I'll bet she passes many hours lonely, as my sweet mom did in those last years. Thinking of that makes me very melancholy. Taking care of an aging loved one really brings old age--for all of us-- into your every day thoughts, and it colors things. It was very kind of you to go into the vineyards looking for your neighbor, and I'm relieved to know he is okay.
    Judy

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    1. I ran into the neighbor with his dog out in the vineyard this afternoon. His wife's insistence that he shouldn't walk off the road with their dog doesn't seem to be working. Wierdness with Tasha today too... more later.

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  3. I’ll going to my 50 year college reunion in October. I’ll be seeing people that I last saw when they were 21 or 22. It will be shocking lol.

    So glad you saw G and that she remembered you. Her mind must be good for her to remember you and having one’s mind is the best thing, non? And she still has her dog, wow!

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    1. My 50th high school reunion is in October. I probably won't be able to attend. I'm not sure I would go even if I could...

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    2. I have the impression that G's mind is good. Physically, though, she's not doing well. Do you remember my story about the time I drove her up to Blois for a scheduled MRI. I ended up taking her to the emergency room that day. The woman who checked us in knew her, and told me I should have called an ambulance instead of driving her to the hospital. Then a doctor told me G had had a stroke and probably wouldn't live through the night. But when I went into her hospital room and told her I didn't know what we were going to do for her to get better, she suddenly came out of it. That was 12 years ago.

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  4. Glad you ran into your friend G. Funny, my grandmother in PA always used to say that too: "old age is not for sissies." Thanks for bring back a memory.

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    1. Your grandmother was wise, and experienced I imagine.

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  5. A lovely story, and, as you say, bittersweet.

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    1. Knowing G has been a remarkable experience. I'm so sorry to see her decline.

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  6. life gives us commitments not always ones we want but as we decline in our years we realise that we have to give back through care and thoughtfulness what was given to us in our youth, when we were to immature to appreciate all that love, life is very bittersweet

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