personalities

Currently my father is staying at something like a nursing home.
I think the correct term is "Elder Care Facility"
Our house is not yet prepared for my Dad's return.
We decided to take a few weeks to get things right before he comes back.
The "We" in this case are Mom my sister and I.

So almost every day my mother and I drive out to the Facility to visit my father.
The home is a half hour from here.
About 12 other patients stay in my father's wing.
i say "about" because it is difficult to judge.
It seems like some of them (John Henry the British accented former sailor or Tony the angry flirt who is usually either coming on to the nurses or yelling at them) go away for long periods of time when suddenly after a weeks absence they reappear in the common room. Others (Esra the big rimmed glasses lady who is often waiting for a bus to take her home or Virginia with the sweet smile who likes to pet people) are fixtures more solid than the large heavy metallic doors which slam together and lock every time a staff member goes through them.

Here are a list of the more colorful of my dad's new neighbors:
John Henry sailor
Tony flirt
Esra big rims
Virginia petter
who you have already met. and:
Pantless Louise (who always takes her pants off)
"I" "I" Ida (who repeats the word "I" constantly)
Lost Lily (who can never find her room and always asks my mom where it is)
Hello Rita (who likes to wave at people and wink)
and everyone's favorite:
Naked Ned (who likes to take off ALL his clothes, walk into occupied women's bathrooms, fix things that usually don't need fixing and also tries to escape)

All of these people in different combinations can be found at one time or another in the common room. My father (who is confined to a wheel chair) can always be found there during waking hours. He is placed off to the right between a movable table and a support pole. He faces the television which he often confuses for a real person and sometimes thinks it is trying to speak to him.
"What?" he'll ask the face of a weather woman who is explaining the weather for the next three days. "What is it you want?" Then after another moment of concentration directed toward the t.v. lady he looses interest and mutters "I can't understand her."
Most of the time the different patients sit in that room all facing the t.v.. Some of them who still understand that it is just a television watch game shows with excited anticipation and yell out
"She won 16 thousand dollars! Oh isn't that wonderful?" As if they know the pretty accountant from Minnesota and are truly happy for her success.
Others just stare at the screen, occasionally making something like a reaction (a guffaw or a tsking sound or sad shake of the head). It doesn't seem to be the television they react to but something in their own personal view of the world around them. Or it is the television to which they react but not to the same images that I see. They perceive something else there... the use of a bounty towel on a wet counter becomes a funny joke... an old episode of Friends leads to a fit of rage... or Ellen Degeneris brings about a sigh with such depth it weightens the room.
Still others act as if the TV does not exist. They sit, head down and hands on laps, the floor a more interesting visual experience than anything else in the room.
These are my father's new companions. He likes them. he has always liked people, talking to people especially. That part of him is still around although the conversations are non sensical and often the people he is talking to are having completely different conversations of their own or not listening at all. But that doesn't stop Dad... he keeps on talking.

i'll leave you with a story which recently happened to my Mom. We had been visiting my dad in the common room and on our way out she stopped in his room to pick up his dirty clothes. There, in his bed, she found Lost Lilly all snug and warm with the blankets atop her.
"This isn't your room Lilly." My mom sweetly said.
"It isn't?" Lilly uttered surprisingly.
"No. It's my husband's room. If you don't get out soon there will be a man in bed with you."
and Lilly smiled
"Well, that hasn't happened in a long time!"