Before we get into the meat of anything, I'd like to tell a tiny story from when I got my colonoscopy. Yeah, I know. Y'all would probably be really happy if I never mentioned the event again. But this story is just so good. So sweet.
I have described the whole procedure as like being in a factory. They have each and every part of the whole thing planned out and refined so that things go as smoothly (and quickly) as possible. The steps in the process are carried out like clockwork from the lady at the front desk who checks you in and gets your signatures on some forms and hands you the armband which another person will put on you, to the last person in the process who wheels you out to where whoever you came with picks you up in the car. And there are at least four or five of these people, each with their own specific tasks. Maybe six. I lost some major details while drugged, as we all know.
So this story happened with what might have been Nurse Three. I can't remember if she's the one who started my IV or not. I was not medicated yet but I was sort of tripping on anxiety and all that stuff so I'm not sure. But she did cover me with a blanket and told me that they wouldn't take off my glasses until after I'd spoken to the doctor (which I appreciated) and that there was a special place on the gurney where they put the glasses so they didn't get broken or lost or smudged. And then she asked me if I'd like my head raised on the gurney.
"Yes," I said. "I'd appreciate that. I feel very vulnerable right now."
And this sweet woman, who was quite young, looked at me with some confusion and such concern and asked, "Would you like me to tuck you in?"
Oh my god. She hadn't understood that I'd meant that being in a semi-sitting position would make me feel less vulnerable than lying flat on my back. I explained that to her and thanked her, nonetheless, for her offer to tuck me in.
What a darling she was.
All right. With any luck that'll be the last story I tell about that whole situation.
The picture up top, as some of you know, is of a very old train station that is now used as the post office in Lloyd. Well, half of it is a post office and half of it is a sort of museum of railroad stuff that they only open a few times a year.
If that.
There are always free hotdogs, too. So- big day in Lloyd.
I just looked up the old train station on Wikipedia and the link to that very short article is HERE. And...I just learned something. Well, a few things but one of them is that the road the now-post office is on is called, in the article, Lester Lawrence Road. It's the same road I live on and I have never heard our road called that. It is known as Old Lloyd Road, Highway 158, and also Bond Street. Our house was built by Walter Lloyd Bond with construction starting the year after the railroad depot was built.
If you want some interesting and accurate pictures of what Old Lloyd Road looks like at various places and spots, you can go HERE.
After a certain point on Old Lloyd Road, which is what the postal service calls this road, if you're heading east, the name of the road turns into Chaires Crossroad. Because it goes to Chaires, of course.
Yeah. Simple.
Why am I talking about all of this? How did I get started with it? Oh yeah. The railroad depot.
Well, Mr. Moon just got in from a day on the Aucilla River. I'm sure he has some stories to tell so I better end this one up. I didn't do anything exciting today anyway but I did finish mending two pairs of the man's overalls and re-rummed the cheesecloth the fruitcakes are wrapped in.
Y'all take care and keep warm.
Love...Ms. Moon
I enjoy this sort of history so much. Doing some research on my township I realized every one of the township roads had a first name. Each bore the name of the major farm on that road!
ReplyDeleteThat makes perfect sense!
DeleteMost of our local roads are either farmers -- one family with three roads, names of farming brothers -- or war heroes. You have to be here a while to get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteMany, many roads here are named after people. Or the destination of where the road ends.
DeleteCodex: That is actually really funny.
ReplyDeleteGlad it went well.
Wasn't it?
DeleteI got the sweetened condensed milk for my fruitcakes today. I think that it is what I'll do Saturday while the great man himself is out taking one more look around for one of the big bucks that have eluded him for the season. They're wily. As he said, "They don't get old by being dumb."
ReplyDeleteA fruitcake with sweetened condensed milk??!! I never heard of such a thing. My fruitcake has zero milk in it.
DeleteI'm not sure if Glen's going out here again. He keeps talking about going to Tennessee to hunt with buddies. Not sure about that.
And he says basically the same thing as Tim about the bucks.
So if someone put all those road addresses on an envelope the letter would somehow find you? Interesting that your road has so many names. Yay for free hotdogs even if only once a year.
ReplyDeleteProbably. I have a home address and a PO address and they are different. Even different towns although the post office and my house are truly only about a block apart.
Delete"Re-rumming". A lovely word. That young nurse was very thoughtful in her misapprehension.
ReplyDeleteI wondered just exactly who Lester Lawrence was. A google search found just two snippets: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/7c6c16e1-c820-48bd-878c-3a5ca38c9970, showing that the road was identified by someone as Lester Lawrence Road in 1973. The Roseland (!) Cemetery in Monticello lists one Lester Carl Lawrence, born in Tifton GA on Nov 1, 1907, died in Monticello FL on Sept 8, 1957. But no information popped up about what specific connection he might have with Lloyd.
Chris from Boise
Wait- those dates from the Roseland Cematery (that is weird) can't be right. Did you get them reversed? I do not doubt there was a Lester Lawrence but I'd just never heard of that name before.
DeleteWhat a kind young nurse. I had no idea the Lloyd P.O. had that history and was that old.
ReplyDeleteOh, Lloyd had a heyday! The train stopped and people got off and there was a hotel where they sold fried chicken dinners. It was a big deal! There was a school here too.
DeleteThat nurse was so very kind. I'll never forget that. When was the last time anyone asked me if I wanted to be tucked in?
What a sweet nurse. "Tucking in" does sound comforting. Happy Friday, Mary. Hope you have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteJust the thought of it was comforting, Ellen. Happy Friday to you!
DeleteIt's the height and lushness of your trees that seems so different from what we have here.
ReplyDeleteAnd kind, thoughtful nurses are in the majority, I find.
Nurses will save your life and make it worth living too.
DeleteWe do have a lot of very full foliage here. And some of the trees are pretty tall. Not like Sequoias but regular tree tall.
I'm so glad the colonoscopy is behind you. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou live in such a very different part of the world. It's quite beautiful and wild.
Good nurse. I never thought of patient's feeling vulnerable while laying flat but it makes sense. I always ask patients if they want their heads up, unless they just fainted.
Laying flat makes me feel rather helpless. And unable to really see what's coming.
DeleteWe do indeed live in different parts of the world. The pictures you post of your winter wonderlands blow my tiny mind.
I do love old train stations, Yours is less spectacular than most but it is a relic from so long ago! Amazed that it is still stanidng and used for Posral service. Brick does seem to last longer, pity we are not make of brick.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea to re-rum, I may have some in my morning coffee just to celebrate your Fruit cakes! I made a million Swedish meat balls last night to freeze for Boxing day. I don't think that I have spent that much time in the kitchen in a very long while.
Yes. Our train station is plain and simple but yet it stands!
DeleteA million Swedish meatballs! Good Lord, woman! Are you exhausted? My back would hurt so bad.
That building of the depot looks well cared for. What are the plans?
ReplyDeleteI may have mentioned somewhere over the years that I have had the dubious pleasure of 10+ colonoscopies to date and apart from the day before (and for me the day after) it has always been a nice-ish experience. Here, you get the knock-out stuff (iv) when are on the examination stretcher and afterwards walk but don't remember that you walk to another room where you are tucked in to bed, your stuff sits in a box by the bed, and eventually some nice person comes to help you dress and you get a cup of coffee with a Dutch biscuit and it's the best thing you ever tasted.
I don't know that there are any plans for the old depot at all. I feel very lucky that we still have our own post office in Lloyd. It's only open until noon for service but open to get your mail out of the box 24 hours a day.
DeleteOkay. The account of how your colonoscopy procedures go makes me realize that we here in America are so uncivilized. They don't even offer you a damn coca cola or a cracker. It's like, "Wake up! You gotta get outta here! Get your clothes on!"
My son was given a snack when he woke up.
DeleteThe County Commission probably passed a resolution at some point renaming the street Lester Lawrence Road but no one uses the name. Kind of like New York City renaming Sixth Avenue as "Avenue of the Americas." No one calls it that. I wonder who Lester Lawrence was?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea. The man who used to own the store that is now falling down was a Mr. Lawrence but I have no idea if there was any relation.
DeleteFrom train station to post office is a great re-use of a historic building. So many communities are quick to tear-down and build new inferior buildings.
ReplyDeleteThe nurse was very sweet and kind. That said, you are the only one I know of that was offered a tuck-in. All good intensions.
Yes. I love the fact that we do have a post office and it is in the old train station. It's a cool building.
DeleteI was lucky to have such a sweet nurse, wasn't I?
I'm always very nice and friendly to the nurses, always say please and thank you, joke around with them, thank them for the care they have given me when I leave because they have to put up with so much shit, literal and otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYes, me too! I always joke with the nurses. When the nurse came in to wheel my gurney to the procedure room, she said, "I'll be your nurse for the procedure," and I said, "Lucky you." And she said, "No, lucky YOU!" I felt in very good hands.
DeleteOnce I had a D&C done and due to an unfortunate inability to use a bedpan, spent my time in the recovery room in absolute misery. Two very kind nurses laid sheets on the floor from my bed to their restroom, and one on each side walked me there. I hope they weren't disciplined. What a kind gesture.
ReplyDeleteRe-rummed is such a great word. History is alive in the very boards of your house.
ReplyDeleteHi, Up at the Lake where I spent my summers as a kid there was a road which changed its name depending on which way you were going. On the way into town it was Country to Town Road, on the way back home it was Town to Country Road. Genius, I think.
ReplyDelete