Winter Arrives at Lazy Days

WINTER ARRIVES AT LAZY DAYS

       "You wished to see me?" Ms. Winters nodded and waved Holly in to her office as she said her goodbyes and hung up the phone.

     "Yes, Holly.  Have a seat", she replied, motioning to a chair facing the desk.  "I wanted to have a chat with you.  It's been six months since you and your grandmother came to Lazy Days.  I'm wondering how it's going for you."

     "Oh, Ms. Winters!  It's been an answer to prayer", Holly started excitedly, raising a bit from her chair.  "Gram's flourishing.  She's made friends and I'm able to be here when she needs me.  I have a job that's fulfilling and believe it or not, much less stressful than the one I had.  Things couldn't be better."

     "And school?  How's that going?"

     "Gooood..." Holly hesitated.  "Real good, actually.  My grades are up.  Only...", she hesitated again.

     "Yes?" Ms. Winters encouraged, "But what?"

     "Well, my desires have changed since I've been at Lazy Days.  I don't think I want to be a doctor any more.  I love what I am doing here.  I could see myself staying here and doing this every day until the day comes that I need to become a resident here myself."

     "Aaah," Ms. Winters chuckled.  "Funny how you've got your future all laid out then suddenly life sidelines you and sends you down another path.  I've experienced that myself.  Remind me to tell you someday how I came to be at Lazy Days.  But, back to the reason I called you here..."  Ms. Winters sat up straighter in her chair and looked Holly in the eye.

     "You've been doing very well here, Holly.  I'm very pleased", she began.  "And the medical knowledge you've already gathered is sufficient for any position here at Lazy Days.  Let me ask you a question..."

     "Ok", Holly answered, wondering where this conversation was going.

     "Did you pay your tuition in advance?"

     "Why, yes", Holly replied, a bit surprised at such a personal question.  "Gram gave me her retirement fund to prepay my schooling".

     "If you were to leave school, could you get a refund of the portion not used?"

     "Why, yes, I'm sure I could.  I had a classmate with a family emergency last semester that had to leave.  I know she got her money back.  Why do you ask?"

    

     Ms. Winters didn't answer right away.  She looked at Holly thoughtfully, stroked her chin, then announced, "I have a proposition for you.  How would you like to quit school, give your grandmother some of her retirement money back and come on full time with me?"  She rushed on before Holly could comment.  "I'd promote you to Head Caregiver.  Instead of making beds and giving tours, you'd be dispensing meds, helping with physical therapy and the nutritionist here and developing an exercise program that will work aging muscles and alleviate the discomforts of arthritis and gout.  In addition to room and board for yourself and Dolly, you'd be earning a salary."

     "I...I don't know what to say", Holly stammered.

     "Take some time to think it over.  We can talk again next week.  If the offer isn't right for you, there will be no hard feelings.  You are welcome to continue as you have been with my blessing."

     "You've certainly given me a lot to think about," Holly exclaimed rising from her chair.  "Thank you Ms. Winters - for everything."

     "You're welcome, Holly.  I'll talk to you soon", she said showing Holly to the door.  Holly

finished her day more or less in a daze.  After dinner she went to sit in the chapel awhile.  She needed a quiet place to think and pray.

     The following Monday, Holly stood outside the door of Ms. Winter's office trying to control the butterflies in her stomach.  She took a deep breath and knocked.  "Come in!" she heard Ms. Winters beckon.  "Ah, Holly.  Am I to assume you've made a decision?"

     "Yes, ma'am, I have", Holly replied taking the same seat she occupied last week.  Ms. Winters waited patiently.  "Well, uh, I told Gram about your generous offer and after much prayer..."

     "Yes?" Ms. Winters broke in, patience exhausted.

     "Yes", Holly agreed.  "I'd like to take the position."

     "Wonderful", Ms. Winters exclaimed, coming around her desk to give Holly a hug.  "When can you start?"

     "I think it will be easier for the administrator if I finish out the semester.  That's another week.  Would that be ok?"

     "That will be perfect!" she said, sitting down at her desk again.

     "Oh, one other thing", Holly said quickly.  "You promised to tell me your story - how Ms. Winters arrived at Lazy Days."

     Ms. Winters glanced at her watch.  "Ok, I guess I've got time for a quick story".  Holly settled into her chair, her face lit up with anticipation.

     "I, too, had my life all planned out", Ms. Winters started, a faraway look stealing over her face.  "I was 35 years old, climbing the corporate ladder and just a rung or two from the top.  Not bad for a woman in a man's world.  But it came at a price."  She shook her head in regret.  Holly listened attentively barely daring to breathe lest she intrude on Ms. Winters reminiscence.

     "I was a much different person then", she continued.  "I didn't like people much.  If they couldn't help me get where I was going, I had no use for them.  I stepped on people all the way to the top.  One day I stepped on the wrong person."  She stopped and took a quick swig from her coffee cup and continued.  "Her name was Karen, or Sharon, or something like that.  She was a part- time file clerk.  Why should I know her name?  Well, one day, I'm dashing out of my office as she's coming around the corner with an armload of files and we collide.  The files go flying, papers everywhere, when right at my feet lands the one piece of paper with just the inside information I'd need to get my boss fired and allow me to take his place.  While she had her back turned, retrieving papers, I slid that one into my bag, said something disparaging to her and went back to my office to devise a strategy."  Ms. Winters stopped and took another sip of coffee.

     Caught up in the story, Holly's mind silently urged Ms. Winters to continue.  She did.  "I used that information and got my boss fired.  He was two years away from retirement and had a disabled wife."  Ms. Winters cleared her throat and went on.  "When it came to light that I could only have gotten the information from that file, the girl suddenly remembered the executive that had run into her then insulted her as she cleaned up the mess.  How was I to know she was the CEO's grand-niece working her way through college?  He not only let me go, but brought me up on charges.  The judge was lenient and ordered me to serve 90 days of community service.  At a nursing home."  The look on Ms. Winters face made Holly giggle.  Ms. Winters looked up quickly as if she'd forgotten that Holly was even there.

     "Yes, well, you laugh now, but I wasn't laughing then", she continued.  "If the judge wanted to punish me, she couldn't have chosen a better means.  I despised old people.  I had no use for them.  But something happened to me as I served out my time there.  I came to see the residents for what they were:  people.  Real people whose bodies or minds had let them down; people whose families had abandoned them; sweet, wonderful, lonely people.  People like the person I was sure I was now destined to become.  And God did a miracle in my heart that day.  I learned to love the elderly and wanted to devote my life trying to make theirs better.  When my 90 days were up, I knew I couldn't return to corporate America.  I used the considerable income I'd attained during my ladder-climbing days and bought a building and called it the Lazy Days Retirement Home.

     "Why Lazy Days, Ms. Winters?" Holly asked.

     "After the corporate rat race, I couldn't think of anything that sounded better than some nice lazy days."  She chuckled.  Holly agreed.

     "Well, thank you for sharing your story, Ms. Winters, and for the promotion.  I'll make you proud", Holly said as she headed for the door.

 "I don't think it's a coincidence, Holly, that we each started down very different paths and both ended up here", Ms. Winters said.  "Sometimes the best plans aren't ours at all."
     "I, for one, am thankful that Ms. Winters finally arrived at Lazy Days, regardless the route", Holly said with a smile.
     "Me too, Holly.  Me too."