Saturday, March 14, 2009

Parental/Elderly Abuse/Neglect

Yes, folks, just like anyone else I am a treasure trove of crazy stories. Here’s another one.

When I was 24 I came across a job listing in some junior college newspaper. It was asking for someone to spend the night with an elderly woman a couple of nights a week for $25 per night. Being recently divorced from a credit-challenged man-boy and working 2 jobs and going to school, I thought it sounded great.

The elderly woman's daughter (owner of chocolate store in Kansas City) had me over to her huge house to discuss me spending a few nights a week with her mother. Here’s where the weird crap comes in:

-- She could not keep my name straight. To this day she thinks my name is Terry; she always called me that.

-- She did not get my Social Security Number.

-- She did not get my address.

So a couple of nights later I started spending the night with this elderly woman, which is an entirely different story!

She pays me in cash every night before bed, and I know where she keeps the stash. She has tons of furs and nice clothing all over the house. She has nice jewelry in the bedroom where she does not sleep. And a nice car in the garage.

Thank God for her my parents raised me right because a bad person would’ve robbed her blind. Sure, she locked me in every night, but I could’ve gotten out through a window. The daughter should’ve had a bunch of $25 checks written, locked up the furs and jewelry, etc. She should’ve known WHO WAS WATCHING HER MOTHER in case I was an ax murderer.

I keep finding myself on this soapbox: Most Americans have no regard for life … either unborn, a twinkle in the eye, born and not perfect, or elderly. If I have to go into massive debt to make sure my parents and Aron’s parents are taken care of until they take their final breath, that is no problem. I want no part of them rotting in a nursing home (unless that’s what they want, to be left alone).

Update 11/5/18 and now we live on enough land to build tiny houses for all of our elderly relatives to keep them nice and close and cared for.