())>%— » Allen and I

Allen and I

For some people, life is precious, but many don’t even recognize how valuable life really is. I never thought about it until I met Allen. At the age 76, he was a conventional old guy, with one exception. He was mentally retarded. Even though he was slow, he seemed to enjoy every moment life had to offer him.

I met him when I was hired to work for Duluth Regional Care Center (DRCC), the company I am currently employed by. Being that I work full-time, awake overnights, we got to know each other very well. He had sundowners’s syndrome and he would be up and awake for most, if not all, of the night. This is why we spent so much time together.

After working with Allen for a few months, he started to give me nicknames, such as Dr. Joe or Joe-Joe the Bus Driver. I had no idea how these names came about, probably from passing medications and giving him rides to certain places. He also knew exactly what time and which days I came to work, even though he never knew what time of the day or which day of the week it was. I guess he just got used to seeing me at different time intervals.

“I knew it was you,” Allen would say as I walked into the building. Shortly after, I convinced him to go to bed, so that I could clean the apartment a little. After a few hours, he woke up and asked to have some coffee. I sat down, talked, and enjoyed a couple cups with him. I would ask him about his day, among other things. After a while, I made him breakfast, fried eggs and toast. That’s all he ate, every morning. I would normally sit down with him and eat too. After eating it was time for me to go, so would leave until the following night.

He always had a smile on his face. I didn’t think anything could ever bring him down. One day, he became really sick and was admitted to the hospital. He died a couple days later. Based on how happy he always was, I would guess he had a long and cheerful life.

Even though I didn’t know him for a very long time, he taught me something very important, something that I incorporate into my life on a daily basis. He taught me that lime is too short not to be happy. I think everyone should just stop their busy lives, for just a few seconds once in a while, and think about how precious life really is.

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