INTRUDERS

Yesterday as I sat at the fire I recalled a couple of elder male patients in the hospital at Eagle Butte SD where I was working in the early 1960s. They shared a room and had begun calling me "Chicago". When I asked they why, they said, "Every day you come to work and walk the halls all day long." Yes, from room to room I went answering calls for assistance from the bed ridden men and women in my care. But I still didn't know why they called me Chicago. They explained further. "In three days you could walk to Chicago." I'm sure they overestimated me but I always was a good walker... until now.

May S wrote, "I believe that our chief responsibility is not to change others for the better but to change ourselves." We are all changing... more than we know. But are we better? Are we going in the right direction?

Pablo Neruda asks, "How many bees are there in a day?" Not as many as in yesteryear. Why? There are many theories but one truth. Man has pulled Earth out of balance and so we have lost our harmony.

Mary Oliver urges us to "visit the sunflowers. they are shy but want to be friends; they have wonderful stories of when they were young..." Are you a sunflower? Am I? Can we be friends?

After Wallis and I returned from Annie's it was already dark. But I walked a bag of food over to Marlene's. It's about a 4-5 block walk RT. She was not at home so I left it near her door. I walked slowly back under a beautiful full moon. As I approached the apt bldg I was stopped by a police officer and questioned. After he decided that I really did live in the bldg he explained that there had been intruders and 2 units had been robbed. One of the intruders was an Indian woman with missing teeth and a short pony tail. So of course I was suspect. Then I was told to check my apt and see if anything was missing. My 2nd floor apt had not been entered, nor had Gloria's, but Randy had lost money. On 1st floor 2 units had been entered and one robbed.

We are going to request more security.