Shrink Wrapped

To honor my wonderful mother, I’ll kick off the blog with one of my favorites.

During her mid-nineties, Julia was living in a nursing home and having some issues with depression. And no wonder.  She’d fallen and broken her hip and following the operation couldn’t walk or dress herself so she was forced into one of those horrible Catch-22s----way too alert to relate with her fellow hall mates, not physically able to live with those younger minds housed in assisted living.

The result was depression.

So, she’s seeing this psychologist near Rockville, Maryland, and on one of my visits I took her for a late afternoon appointment.  When we arrived for her 6:00 p.m. session the doctor’s waiting room was empty.  She’s in her wheel chair; I’m busy reading Psychology Today or something. It’s just the two of us sitting there, waiting for the psychologist to call her into the inner office.

Suddenly I hear her say, “Bob, Bob. Check out the painting!”

I look up and see her smiling away, just shaking her head, looking at a reproduction hanging there on the psychologist’s wall.

“Rather appropriate for a shrink’s waiting room , don’t you think?” she said.

And then we both just sat there and laughed out loud.

The psychologist’s waiting room cityscape featured a New York street; the centerpiece of the painting (Edward Hopper) was the famous New York coffee shop----Chock full o’ Nuts!