caregiving: wild, wonderful and down yonder

“Wild, wonderful” seems to capture both Patti and Wednesday’s birthday outing to Charles Town Races & Slots.                   

After 53 years of life with over 40% of them disabled with ever progressing Multiple Sclerosis, Patti still laughs and lives life.

Requesting to go to Charles Town, Patti interestingly remembered how it is infinitely more wheel chair friendly than Pennsylvania’s newer accessibility ‘in name only’ casinos. And with Pennsylvania’s recent fascist smoking regulations, heading to ‘freedom of choice’ West Virginia was where she wanted to go.

Being legally blind and with short term memory loss Patti enjoys machines that are large in display and rarely stays long at any given machine. More games interact with you vocally which amuses her to no end.

No one can win in a casino but you can control your losses. After almost 3 hrs of playing we spent just under $15, or about the price of movie theatre admission for two.

We gave the SunDance Grill a chance for dinner. Casino dinning is one of the few “steals” left in the world, with quality high and prices low.

Driving home when I stopped for gas I confirmed that I was heading in the correct direction to the Interstate. The clerk pointed down the road I was traveling and said, “just keep driving that way and it will be down yonder.”

Back in the van I began musing out loud about “yonder”. Is yonder always down? How do you know when you have reached yonder? Or left yonder? … As we approached ‘yonder’, Patti interrupted my musings by making the sounds to the introduction to the Twilight Zone. We both started laughing and laughing and could not stop until we safely left yonder.

Caregivingly Yours, J Patrick Leer 

website: www.CaregivinglyYours.com

videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer

Tags: caregiving, carer, spouse caregiver, Multiple Sclerosis, Charles Town Races and Slots, West Virginia, Pennsylvania