So maybe I shouldn’t use the term ‘old’ since it’s rather speculative…instead I’ll just say the elderly. Elderly people love Red. On my first day of Meals on Wheels I was wearing my all red converse. Those of you in the home office even if you don’t know me have probably seen me wearing them. There is absolutely nothing subtle about them. They are what Andrea likes to call my clown shoes.
Whether you love them or hate them doesn’t really matter much because they are one of my favorite pair of shoes, and they managed to bring a smile to almost every single person I delivered a meal to with Meals on Wheels. That alone makes them worth it. The older the person the bigger the kick they got out of them too. After the first day of smiles and laughs I tried to make it a point to wear them almost every day during my deliveries. One of my favorite jokes as an elderly man opened up his door was:
“I just got off the phone with the circus telling me the clown lost his shoes, and here they show up on my door step!”
Besides the comments on my red shoes everyone seemed obsessed with my red hair. Several even went as far as to want to touch it…which I’ll admit was kind of weird for me… but if touching my hair makes someone’s day, who am I to judge and keep that from them. Again the older the person the more fascinated they seemed to be by my red hair.
Having naturally red hair (even though there are times I dye it a darker red), I have heard all the jokes you can think of when it comes to redheads and probably then some. So it was a unique experience for me to have one person after another fawn over it.
On a more serious note though, I originally had planned on working with both Love and Care Ministries and Meals on Wheels. After my initial call to Meals on Wheels and being told that they had 17 of their regular drivers out as well as all the routes that aren’t assigned to a regular driver to complete, I felt like it was God’s way of telling me that this was where I needed to spend all my time.
It was an amazing experience for me…though I’m not going to lie I did have a few routes in some pretty bad parts of town. Which made me a little nervous since I was doing deliveries by myself, but everyone I delivered to was nice. It’s also more work that you’d initially think. Since I took 2 routes it would usually take me 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to finish, which doesn’t sound all that long.
Until you add this West Texas heat into the mix… also add in the fact that I’m a pale redhead that burns EXTREMELY easily. I have had a constant sunburn the entire time I’ve been doing Meals on Wheels. I don’t want to hear the “you should have worn sunscreen” comments, because guess what? I did! I know better than to spend more than 5 minutes outside without putting on sunscreen. It just never fails though that not matter what I do I burn. If I at least tanned I wouldn’t mind so much, but I just burn and get more freckles. Sometimes it looks like I might have a tan, but it’s a lie! It’s just an outbreak of freckles and I’m still as pale as ever underneath it all.
For all the wonderful people I got to meet and help, the never ending burn was worth it. I got numerous prayer requests, and then some people just needed someone to talk to. I’m sure I might have been the only human interaction that some of these people had all day, if not week.
I also came to realize with one heart stopping event that some of these people just have way too much time on their hands. It was first day delivering and it was either my 2nd or 3rd house. There was a note to knock, identify myself and enter the house to deliver the meal. So as I go up to the door, it’s already open. I knock on the door, identify myself and walk in. Just a few feet from the door is this lady sitting in a chair listening to the radio. Her eyes are closed as if she’s taking a nap, so when she doesn’t respond to my first announcement I try again. Knocking louder and announcing myself louder in case she’s hard of hearing…. Nothing… No response… Even after several more attempts.
My heart stopped. It would be just my luck that on my first day, one of my first few stops I come across someone who has passed away. I was so flabbergasted, this was not something you’re prepared for. Then laughter. This lady lets loose with deep, belly aching laughter. After my heart starts back up again, she proceeds to tell me that she doesn’t own a TV so she has to entertain herself anyway she can and since she noticed that I wasn’t the person who usually delivers her meals she wanted to have a bit of fun. I swear I wanted to kiss her and curse her at the same time.
So all in all I’ve enjoyed my Meals on Wheels experience and am not ready for it to end.