Hey folks, it's been a while. I explained my extended absence from the site in another diary, so here I am again.
For those that don't feel like revisiting that diary, the Reader's Indigestion summary is that I lost my sight and my husband, the beloved (if occasionally frustrating) Mr. Scribe. Spent 3-1/2 months with my FOX Noise watching, Limbaugh-listening sister (obviously we didn't talk politics), picking up the shards of my shattered life. Thanks to her and my brother-in-law’s help and a lot of other wonderful people in and out of public service, I got my sight back (turned out to be bad cataracts), I was able to get back on health insurance (we'd fallen through the cracks, and my beloved though frustrating husband never followed up), my income is actually a little higher than before thanks to Social Security survivor's benefits combined with my part of my late husband’s pension (plus SS notified me of a pension from a former employer that I forgot I had), and I'm now living in a nice and affordable retirement community in the East SF Bay Area.
The place where I now live includes pretty much everything at a reasonable (for the Bay Area) rent; room, utilities, cable & wifi, 3 meals a day plus occasional treats (like Happy Hour a couple of times a month, though it's at 2pm rather than the traditional 5 – hey, we're old people here!), activities, etc. I do have to do my own laundry (which was Mr. Scribe's chore back in the day), but the washers/dryers are no cost so I've got a ton of quarters if they can work out the logistics under COVID to bring back Quarter Bingo. It's a good place for me to land as I maneuver through life as an old single lady (most of the other female residents and quite a few of the men have also lost spouses). One of the reasons my sister brought me to her house was to keep me safe from COVID; ended up with 3 tests in 3 months, 2 of them were before each of my eye surgeries, the third to move in here (plus a 10-day quarantine in my apartment after I moved). I'm equally safe here; they just gave the okay for residents to have visitors in their rooms, but only 2 at a time per day. And we get temperature checks whenever we return from doctor's visits/errands, go into the dining room or participate in activities; masks are required when we're out in the community except for when eating.
I’d never really lived alone before; I’d travelled on my own several times, but always had someone to return to, whether it was a roommate, family, or the aforementioned Mr. Scribe. I’ve found it has its advantages. I can stay up late to watch TV without bugging anyone else and have full control of the remote. I can spend hours on the computer and not have anyone bug me for their turn. I don't have to worry about grocery shopping or doing tons of dishes after cooking; I have a small kitchenette and a microwave so I do have the occasional snack, and I can always get food to go from the dining room and eat up here. And I get once a week housekeeping so I don't have to scrub the toilet or shower, and I didn't have to invest in a vacuum along with all the other stuff I needed. I’ve met some folks who, other than being conservatives, are pretty nice people; I’ll sit up late with them and chat while a bunch of them play pinochle in the game room adjacent to my apartment.
But you know the hardest part about living alone?
Folding bed sheets.
I have a full/double bed. It came from my oldest sister; she bought it when her oldest granddaughter was married so her second granddaughter would have a place to sleep, so it had only been slept in once. She also gave me the two sets of sheets she had for the bed, and my second sister bought me a comforter set that came with a sheet set. Housekeeping comes once a week (for me it's Wednesdays) and changes the bed; I just leave the fresh sheets on the foot of the bed, then wash the dirty ones. But folding the sheets, particularly the fitted sheet, is a royal PITA.vHard enough to fold them even with two people, but it's doable. All by myself, I usually end up just getting it in some sort of flat wad then stick the flat sheet and the pillowcase on top and shove it onto a shelf in the closet.
If there are any “tricks of the trade” other single folks have learned for sheet folding, I'd love to hear them. Or if you're just having your own FP on this (hopefully) fine evening, I'd love to hear those as well.
I leave you with the final words on my ophthalmologist's outgoing voicemail message:
“Be safe, be kind; we'll get through this.”
Peace.