Occasionally, I enjoy my memories of the 1970s when, for the first time ever, I volunteered to visit residents of a nursing home who didn’t have any family…. or had family who never visited.
I was, for a while, a stay-at-home mom with two toddlers who never minded staying with their grandma for an hour and a half while I was gone. It was my way of doing something meaningful.
At the facility, a nurse introduced me to an adorable resident who was definitely a “people person” but very lonely since she never had visitors. Ever.
We hit it off right from the start. and I always looked forward to our weekly visits. Turns out she was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.
We’d sit together in the community room while she told wonderful stories of her life. She painted pictures of a young woman determined to fight injustice and who wasn’t afraid to take the roads less traveled.
She didn’t appear to have been a troublemaker.. smile. Instead, I marveled at this little firecracker who was determined to make life better for those struggling.
She had lost both a husband and a son and with very little other family, she was still a young woman with a lot to offer.
In 1991, when I saw the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, I was happy that somebody told her story. The names and places may have been different, but I knew I had seen insight into the kind of life that my sweet friend had enjoyed.
I’ve never forgotten Margaret, and I never will.
