Day time...what shall I do?

You know as I watch Lexi bark at a squirrel that's climbing down on the left side of the tree, I remember that working five nights a week, I usually got purple bags under my eyes, slept only 6 hours maximum during the day, ate irregularly-- usually around 3:30pm and 2 am, had constant bloodshot eyes, and gained back the weight I had lost in 2008. This was mainly from no exercise. You know it is not proper to do jumping jacks in the hallway of a nursing home. ha!
BTW: When I noticed and became concerned about the purple under my eyes, I Googled "purple under eyes." The article said that I needed more sleep! duh!

My job was to keep My Lady safe! I had to be in her room 12 hours each night to be sure she, who was very active, did not climb over the rails or fall on the floor. She had an alarm on the wheelchair, an alarm in the bed and a 6 inch pad next to the bed for safety.
When I first met her she had callouses on both wrists from the wheelchair that rubbed on her as she went up and down the hallway all night. She would run into people that were in the way, or twisting the hands of a patient who was waving at her but appeared to be trying to restrain her, or pulling down the pants of a patient that was just in the way. This is life in nursing homes...
However, the callouses are now gone! Go Sylvia! These last 9 months My Lady has slept peacefully all night in her bed. She has been comfortable with me in the room especially when I constantly reassure her that I was going to be there all night waiting for her to wake up. She loved that and would be at peace.

I was also useful in setting schedules for each of 5 people to work night time from 7pm to 7am. It took all of us to cover the 168 night time hours per week. This time had to be emailed every two weeks to an accountant to write out checks so that the Techs would receive their checks in three days. If those checks did not arrive, I was the one who got the phone calls from the Techs. "Where's my check?" whine...

It has been good money for a retired person who did not mind sitting in a semi dark room with a 40 watt bulb, writing this blog, playing games on my laptop, reading books, watching cable TV in the room, and playing solitaire on my new EVOG4 phone. Also, I loved what I did with the money; but now, I have gone back to retirement budgeting... sniff.

What an experience for me. I will never forget it. It has been a blessing! When asked, "What will you do with my life now?" I tell them that "I plan to sleep at night."