Boo Hoo/Ha Ha Ha (A story)

The title of this thread describes a lot of my days at the nursing home. Lots of ups and downs.

Last Friday was one of those days. After my very favorite boss ever LEFT me to go to another facility closer to her home, one of my very favorite residents EVER left us--celestially. We had been expecting it, and I refused to believe she wasn't going to rebound and make a comeback one more time, like she had many times before. Sadly, she did not rebound and crossed on over. Between the two tragic events and dealing with a family from hell for the past 6 weeks, it's been an emotional time for sure.

I never knew a lot about Jackie's past/younger days. She only had one daughter and she didn't visit a lot. She told me when I admitted her mother that her mother was "difficult" and could sometimes be "mean". I told her no problem...my favorite kind of resident. Jackie turned out to be just what her daughter said...difficult. But she was also HILARIOUS and very witty. She was always cold and would ask for a "wrap". She hated dogs "in the house". She loved ice cream. She told me at Mardi Gras she wanted me to "guide her"...whatever that meant. She was always "fluffing" her face..you know, rubbing her skin in an upward motion.."for the wrinkles" she said. Her daughter wanted her to get her shoulder length hair cut and asked me to help convince Jackie that a shorter style was in order. Jackie flatly refused and told me she preferred in a pony tail. We never cut her hair. She needed new bras and I called her daughter. She agreed to buy them if we could get her to wear them. She did.

Today, I went to Jackie's funeral. I used to attend all the funerals of our residents, but at some point after attending like 6 in one month I decided I just couldn't do it any more. But, Jackie was special.
It was a typical service in many ways. Same songs you hear at most services, same sermon . Some of the family spoke and one niece recalled the story of how Jackie was a fabulous gourmet cook. As children, they would go to Jackie's house and she always had something good to eat waiting for them. They often liked to help her cook. The niece went on to say that Jackie was always a little "quirky" and didn't like hair. She always insisted that the kids wear hair nets when they cooked..only she never had any hairnets at her house. So, she made them wear clean pairs of panties on their heads!!!! Oh my!! I laughed so hard!! I could sooooo see her making them do that.
So, Boo Hoo/HaHaHa!!!