Old Favorites and Miscellaneous

You know, I have been thinking about my yesterday blog entry and the man who attends my Rialto Day Program, who resorted to violence when he saw his favorite couch sitting by the dumpster. I feel guilty. It's not a California law, although I won't be surprised to see it in the regulations someday. This is California and if someone suffers in any way, we tend to pass a law that makes sure it never happens again or if it does, someone pays a penalty to the State of California. The reason we had to toss the couch was because representatives of the State of California believe that any material other than leather or something of that type of material that can be wiped clean is unsanitary. I actually see the reasoning behind that recommendation, but I was just imagining today how comfortable he must have felt every day when he could take a break from the routine to relax on his favorite piece of furniture. I remember a couch we had when I was a little girl (a sharecropper's daughter living in Southern Illinois.) My sister in law, Pat, who was a full grown adult, of course, would always sit on the same place on the same spot on our couch everyday. She was a hard working woman and helped my mother with whatever work needed to be done, but when she relaxed, she always sat in the same place. Pat came all the way to Southern Illinois from Boston. She was of Polish descent. Since I was the daughter of a sharecropper, you won't find it hard to believe that our couch wasn't amongst the better built. Only my parents, myself, my brother, Charles (another child and not Pat's husband) and a couple of my truck driving brother (Eddie, Pat's husband's) children lived in the same house, so noone else really sat on the couch for any length of time. My dear sister in law, Pat, sat on that same spot daily when she could take a break from farm work for a couple of years and when you looked at the couch, there was an obvious little caved in area where she sat. I can still remember how really comfortable she looked while sitting there. Sometimes I would sit next to her, and she would talk to me while I colored in my coloring book or worked on my homework. She was always very kind, and I think now that I may have been pretty attached to that couch too. I certainly was attached to Pat. I understand how my developmentally disabled consumer must have felt seeing his favorite spot cast out of the building for garbage pickup as if it meant nothing to anyone. Perhaps it was the place he went to relax when he felt upset. I am sorry now that we didn't let him know that we had to get rid of it before it was dragged out of the building and placed next to the dumpster. Maybe if he had an opportunity to participate in the decision, it would have been easier to accept. We arranged for a company to take the furniture away, but it wasn't soon enough for my consumer. I regret that. Thank you God for today's blessings.